Four local volunteer fire departments were awarded a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant worth $725,400 for the purchase of needed equipment including self-contained breathing apparatus, or air packs, and Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) packs.
Patrick Springs Volunteer Fire Department, Woolwine Volunteer Fire Department, Fairystone Volunteer Fire Department, and Ararat Volunteer Fire Department went in for the grant together.
Patrick Springs Captain Ross Adams said the squads didn’t expect to get the grant the first year they applied for it.
“We thought we stood a better chance of adding multiple departments just to broaden the scope of the grant a little bit. We had a grant writer down in Texas writing for us. He did most of the writing, I just helped facilitate the information. He’s the one who did a lot of the footwork,” he said.
The $725,400 FEMA award was a 95/5 grant, Adams said, where FEMA awarded the departments 95 percent of the cost, and the departments came up with the remaining five percent of funds needed for the purchase.
“FEMA funded $690,000, so we came together and split up the $35,400, paid our part of five percent and it worked out great,” he said.
Adams said the squads received 66 air packs, 132 30-year cylinder bottles, 94 masks, eight RIT packs, and eight RIT cylinder bottles.
In addition to saving the county money, Adams said each department will be set decades.
“It also helps with compatibility so now if we’re riding calls with each other we’re using the same equipment everybody’s familiar with their packs, so it takes the thinking out of it,” he added.
Patrick Springs Assistant Chief Clint Weidhaas said Patrick Springs and Woolwine each received 18 air packs each while Fairystone received 14, and Ararat got 16. The amount each department received was based on riding assignments.
“So, every riding position on a fire engine is allotted an air pack, and that’s how FEMA looks at it,” he said.
As one of Patrick Spring’s trucks has six people that can ride it, Weidhaas said it was allotted six air packs by FEMA.
Woolwine Chief Bennette Shuff receiving the supplies means a great deal for his department.
“There’s no way we could afford to do this on our own. So, getting a grant, it’s tremendous. It means the world to us,” he said.
Noting the air packs his department’s currently using are both old, and extremely outdated, Shuff said receiving the new packs is wonderful, and noted it will help increase the safety of volunteers.
“Maybe we can find some department that is in need of them, we can pass them on down to them,” he said.
Ararat Chief DJ Lawson said getting the grant means a whole lot for his department, particularly as the air packs it’s been using are a few months from being obsolete.
“They don’t make them anymore, they don’t make parts for them anymore, so we were in pretty dire need of something for our department. Going in with these other departments, working mutual aid with them, that will help everybody having the same kind of pack like that,” he said.
Getting this many supplies with one grant is also a big opportunity, Lawson said, as a lot of times squads will put it for grants and don’t get them.
“This is a big win for the county,” he said.
Like the other chief, Fairystone Chief Steve Peal said getting the grant is a great thing.
“We don’t have the money. I mean, we’re a very poor department, and Ross (Adams) done a tremendous job getting it for us. Now we got the equipment we just need the people to put it on and use it,” he said.
Weidhaas said air packs are used fairly often and are worn while firefighters are fighting structural or vehicle fires or in hazmat situations. They will also be worn while training on fireground and search operations.
The air packs themselves are guaranteed to work for life, Weidhaas said.
“So, it doesn’t necessarily have a life expectancy on the pack, but through wear and tear after about 10 years they start to receive some decent wear. So, that’s why you should always upgrade,” he said, adding the air bottles that come on the air packs have a 15-year lifespan because of the composite material they’re made of.
Weidhaas said the RIT packs include a mask and a cylinder with enough air for an hour and are used by the RIT team on working fires.
“If you have enough manpower, you will have a group of guys set aside that stand by ready to go outside in case one of us firemen go down inside fighting the fire.” Their job is “to come in and rescue the firemen,” he said.
