By Kent Jackson
Standard-Speaker
WEST HAZLETON, Pa. — Firefighters kneeling on the blacktop pushed up and down on pump handles until, slowly, an overturned car started to lift.
A demonstration on Friday showed off new rescue equipment that West Hazleton Fire Department purchased with a $40,000 grant from the foundation of actor Gary Sinise.
Lines from the pumps went to pillar-like struts on both sides of the car. As air from the pumps pushed up the struts, the car rose high enough that firefighters could have freed a victim whose arm had been trapped.
What else can the equipment do?
“Tons of stuff,” said Deputy Fire Chief Matthew Milore, mentioning rope rescues, stabilizing vehicles and structures. The new gear is strong enough to lift a railcar but weighs less and is easier to set up and use than the set from 1994 it replaces.
How did the fire company even know that Sinise, known for playing Lieutenant Dan in “Forest Gump,” even had a foundation?
“That’s my job,” said Fire Department President Joseph Zajac, who tasks himself with identifying needs and finding ways to fund them.
| MORE: “We won the grant! — Now what?”
Through his foundation, Sinise sends children to Disney, helps veterans and emergency responders.
Grants are competitive because the foundation takes applications from around the nation.
Zajac said West Hazleton submitted the strongest application it could, but U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., sent a letter endorsing the application.
“We think that made the difference,” Zajac said.
Bresnahan watched the demonstration and asked questions about different pieces of new equipment and took a tour of the 1888 fire house that department has been fixing up. Afterward, he stayed for lunch with firefighters, Mayor John Chura and borough council members while talk turned to the equipment that the department wants to purchase next: A fire engine.
The busiest engine in the department is already 26 years old and the department spent $25,000 in repairs and maintenance to keep it running.
“That’s not sustainable,” Zajac said.
In 2023, the department identified replacing the engine as a priority. Manufacturing and delivering a new engine could take as long as four years if firefighters ordered it now, which they cannot afford to do.
A new engine will cost $1 million to $1.2 million compared to the $4 million budget for the borough government this year,
Zajac said the department applied to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but didn’t get past the first round.
Congress also can grants to fire companies through the Congressional Community Project Funding, which is also competitive.
Bresnahan said he received 111 applications for 15 grants in the last round.
The Appropriations Committee revises rules for the project grants annually, but Bresnahan said he would will let the department know about the new guidelines when they come out. Bresnahan said he and his wife, Chelsea, have a foundation that gives smaller gifts such as ambulance equipment and a rescue boat to a fire company.
West Hazleton Fire Chief Brandon Cressman , the only full-time employee, said the department has part-time employees who drive apparatus to emergencies where they are joined by volunteers.
Of 30 registered volunteers, 12 to 15 respond on a good day, Cressman said.
“I give you guys a lot of credit,” Bresnahan said.
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