By Michael Kane
The Telegram & Gazette
WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. — The town has received a federal grant that will help defray the cost of replacing self-contained breathing kits for firefighters, Town Administrator Leon Gaumond Jr. said.
The grant, totaling nearly $130,000, was announced in a recent joint statement from the offices of Representative James McGovern and Senator John Kerry.
A matching portion of the grant requires the town to spend just under $7,000 Pauley said.
Broken down by units, it would be the equivalent of the town paying for one unit, and the federal government paying for 25, Pauley wrote in a memorandum for selectmen.
Pauley said the kits include everything firefighters use when they enter a burning building or other situations where breathing is not possible, like a chemical spill. Each unit consists of an oxygen tank, a spare oxygen tank, a face mask, a voice amplifier, a “buddy breathing” piece and a personal alert safety system device.
“They have multi-uses,” Pauley said. “They’re not just for structural fires.”
The current packs used in West Boylston are 13 years old, Pauley said. Made of fiberglass, the tanks cannot be certified after 15 years. Had the grant not been approved, Pauley said he planned on bringing a set number of tanks to town meeting voters over the next two to three years.
“It was becoming an issue,” he said. “We were in a place where we would have had to come up with a good amount of money.”
Gaumond credited Pauley with getting his third major competitive grant in less than three years. Pauley has also received a near $68,000 grant for protective clothing and the federal SAFER grant, which allowed the town to hire two full-time firefighters last year.
“This makes somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 in federal grants that the town has received since Chief Pauley came onboard,” Gaumond said.
Pauley said a combination of factors goes into awarding the grants, including demographics and how much the town funds the department out of the tax base. Working in West Boylston’s favor in the grant process, he noted, is that much of the town is controlled by the state and the tax base cannot grow as fast as it needs to help modernize the department.
“The intent (of the grants) is to supplement what we can’t raise through taxes,” he said. “A significant part of West Boylston is controlled by the state, and it absolutely limits what we can do.”
In a statement released from his office, Kerry called the grant award a “moral issue, pure and simple.”
“Our firefighters put their lives on the line every day and we’ve got a fundamental responsibility to keep them as safe as possible and it starts with equipment,” Kerry said. “This investment will allow Chief Richard Pauley to upgrade equipment and enhance the department’s ability to respond to emergency situations quickly and effectively.”
“I’m very pleased with this funding for West Boylston,” McGovern said. “It’s critical that we provide local first responders with the resources they need to protect our communities. The federal government must be a partner in that effort. I will continue to be a strong supporter of this Assistance to Firefighter Grant program, and I’ll work to maintain its funding in Congress.”
Gaumond said the grant comes at a time when the town needs it, coming off stagnant revenue growth last year.
“We’re always appreciative when our elected officials recognize our needs,” Gaumond said.
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