Pacific County Fire District No. 3 and the City of Raymond Fire Department have been awarded a $237,216 Regional Equipment Grant from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the Assistance for Firefighters Grant Program (AFG).
This Equipment Grant Funding will be used to purchase 37 new Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) along with spare SCBA Bottles and training for both departments. SCBAs are used by firefighters and emergency responders to provide breathing air in hazardous environments. The new SCBAs will meet the latest NFPA requirements for firefighter safety and will replace the current obsolete SCBAs in service within the Fire District and City Fire Departments.
The new SCBAs will be placed on apparatus at the Raymond, Menlo and Lebam fire stations. The new equipment will be interoperable within the fire district and city, which will increase firefighter safety, streamline fire ground operations and training.
"Our current SCBAs have reached the end of their service life and do not meet the current safety standards set by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency)," Raymond Fire Chief Todd Strozyk told the Herald. "If we had not been awarded this grant, we would have had to make a significant change on how we operate on the fire ground. Neither of our departments would have been able to afford an upgrade to our current SCBAs to bring them up to the current safety standards.
"Comparison of our old SCBAs to new would be like comparing a 1980's era cassette player to a current Ipod," Chief Strozyk added.
This AFG Award is in addition to an earlier $43,000 AFG Grant Pacific County Fire District No. 3 received to purchase new Thermal Imaging Cameras, fire hose nozzles and equipment.
The fire district and city are responsible for a 5 percent match for the grant, approximately $6,000 per department.
"This is a huge award for our departments and community," Chief Strozyk said.