Fire Department Receives $152,000 Federal Grant
By Jennifer Connic
Thursday, January 18, 2007
After four unsuccessful tries to secure a federal Assistance for Firefighters Grant, the Westport Fire Department has received $152,306 in funding for protective gear and other items from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The funding, announced Wednesday, will be used to purchase air tanks, turnout gear, vehicle intercom systems ear protection and fitness equipment.
First Selectman Gordon Joseloff said he was grateful for the funding after several failed attempts and having to spend increasing tax dollars on firefighter equipment.
“We’ve watched with envy as neighboring departments in Fairfield and Wilton received the funding,” he said. “This not only enhances the safety of our firefighters, but the safety for all of our residents.”
Fire Chief Christopher Ackley said he is in a state of shock over receiving the grant, which Assistant Chief Gene Maloney helped secure.
“We had a number of rejections, but we kept going,” he said. “We never felt like we were going to get it.”
Firefighter equipment wears out over time, and some departments cannot afford to replace it all, he said.
The grant program was enacted to help those departments, he said, to help them fund items that their budgets cannot necessarily support.
The Westport department has a number of air tanks that have reached the end of their 15-year life, he said.
Turnout gear—the protective gear firefighters wear—has an average life of six years, Ackley said, and the department buys new gear every year for its firefighters.
With the level of current turnover at the department, however, the gear has been going to the newer firefighters, he said.
“We haven’t been able to replace the gear for our veteran firefighters in an appropriate fashion,” he said.
The vehicle intercom systems will provide hearing protection for firefighters while they ride on the apparatus, Ackley said.
Hearing loss is a common problem among firefighters, he said, and it can come from the noise of the engines from the various trucks.
The headphones would be similar to what pilots wear, he said.
There have been several documented cases of firefighters losing their hearing in Westport, he said, including in the last several months.
Posted 01/18 at 06:40 AM