By Ryan Jockers
Staff Writer
December 4, 2004
Fire departments in Stamford and Norwalk have won federal grants to purchase firefighting equipment.
Stamford received $198,719 and will use it to buy 80 portable radios, said Fire Chief Robert McGrath. The new radios will replace the department's current stock, which is 15 years old and does not allow Stamford firefighters to communicate with members of fire and police departments in other municipalities.
Norwalk received $148,243 and used the funding to buy new "turnout" gear -- protective jackets and pants -- for the department's 120 firefighters, officials said yesterday.
The department also bought several portable radios and laptop computers and will use the funding to replace a deteriorating roof at the Meadow Street fire station.
The funding came from the Assistance to Firefighters grant program, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and was announced yesterday at a news conference in Norwalk and by U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, in a statement.
The funding enabled the Norwalk Fire Department to replace its stock of turnout gear for the first time, fire officials said. In the past, pieces of gear were replaced intermittently and when capital funding was allotted.
The new gear has enhanced reflective trim -- improving a firefighter's ability to see a colleague in a fire -- and clips for attaching flashlights and replaceable knee pads.
"When you're crawling on a floor in a fire it's like crawling on an oven," said firefighter Adam Markowitz, who co-wrote Norwalk's grant request.
Markowitz said 78 percent of the department's old turnout gear did not meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. The rest of the gear will be used; the department's goal is to have two sets of gear for each firefighter.
The portable radios both departments will buy offer communication among various emergency responders. Norwalk has bought nine radios, replacing nine old ones. Stamford will have a new radio for every department member per shift.
"Right now, we can't communicate with other police and fire departments. If we're going to Norwalk for mutual aid, we can't talk with Norwalk fire," said McGrath, Stamford's fire chief. "This will improve inter-operability."
The Norwalk Fire Department also will buy nine laptop computers because it now has none. Laptops will help firefighters get information at the scene of a fire, such as blueprints for a structure and locations of fire hydrants, Markowitz said.
The deteriorating roof at the Meadow Street fire station to be replaced is the original and has been leaking for 30 years, Norwalk Mayor Alex Knopp said. The low bid for the project was $94,000.
The city has $81,000 in grant funding for the roof project, and Knopp said he would seek a special appropriation of $18,577 to cover the difference and begin the project.
As Norwalk and Stamford officials expressed their pleasure in receiving the security funding, Gov. M. Jodi Rell expressed her displeasure at proposed cuts to the state's Homeland Security funding by $8.4 million.
Under proposed cuts, Connecticut would also lose the nearly $10 million it received last year from an Urban Area Security Initiative to protect New Haven's ports and petroleum reserve, according to a statement from Rell's office.
"These funding decisions are woefully short-sighted," Rell said in the statement. "It makes no sense to cut back on Homeland Security efforts and funding. The threats have not gone away -- nor should the federal government's commitment to safeguarding the states. We will fight for our fair share."
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