Two fire departments getting $400,000

Two fire departments getting $400,000

Mark Zaretsky , Register Staff

12/22/2003

The federal government has awarded more than $400,000 to two area fire departments, providing $180,000 for improvements to East Haven’s firehouses and $225,000 to help buy a new firetruck for the Allingtown Volunteer Fire Department in West Haven, U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, said.

The grants require a 10 percent local match.

East Haven Fire Chief Wayne Sandford said the fire department will spend $210,000 to install a new exhaust system in the fire headquarters and put sprinklers at Station 1 on Main Street, Station 3 on Foxon Road and Station 4 on Bradford Manor.

Allingtown Volunteer Fire Chief John Carew said his department will spend $250,000 to buy its first new firetruck since 1974. It will replace a 1974 Mack pumper that has been the department’s only piece of apparatus since then.

The new pumper also will benefit the paid Allingtown Fire Department, which, through an agreement with the volunteers, will be able to use it if its regular equipment breaks down, Carew said.

"I am pleased to announce this much-needed funding for the East Haven and Allingtown (volunteer) fire departments," said DeLauro. "Our first responders are on the front lines of keeping our community safe, and this funding is crucial to that task.

"This award will be used to increase the effectiveness of firefighting operations, to help our firefighters do their jobs," DeLauro said.

The grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Preparedness and Response program were among more than 480 announced last week to fire departments across the country, including two others in Connecticut. The program has awarded more than $564 million to more than 7,300 U.S. fire departments to date.

This is the second time East Haven has landed a grant under the program. The first paid for protective fire gear and a new radio system, Sandford said.

Sandford said he was happy to see the Allingtown district, which has had its share of fiscal problems, get a grant.

"I’m really happy for Allingtown because I know they really need it," he said.

The Allingtown Volunteer Fire Department, which has about 30 certified firefighters, is a separate entity from the paid Allingtown Fire Department but is supported by a $4,000 line item in the Allingtown Fire District’s budget, said Carew.

The Allingtown Fire District is one of three independent fire districts in West Haven.

In addition to what they get from the district, Allingtown volunteers raised about $3,000 last year, Carew said.

He said he couldn’t imagine being able to raise enough money to buy a new pumper without the federal support.

"If we had that kind of money around … we wouldn’t be strug-gling for so long using a 1974 piece of apparatus," Carew said.

"There’s nothing that we can see with the tax base and everything, past and present … to come up with 200 (thousand) and some-odd dollars" that it would cost.

The new truck will help the Allingtown volunteers meet new National Fire Protection Asssociation standards, which require enclosed cabs, seating and seatbelts to ensure firefighters’ safety heading to and from fires, he said.

The department has begun shopping around and has been in touch with several manufacturers, Carew said. It is required to have it in operation within one year, he said.

Mark Zaretsky can be reached at mzaretsky@nhregister.com or 789-5722.