Trending Topics

2 Pa. departments receive grants

Gap Fire Company received $47,025; Lancaster City Bureau of Fire received $40,000

The Intelligencer Journal/New Era

Lancaster, Pa. — Two local fire departments have received almost $90,000 in grants from the federal government.

Gap Fire Company received $47,025. Lancaster City Bureau of Fire received $40,000.

The Gap company will use its grant to buy protective equipment called “turnout gear,” said Chief Troy Wenger.

This will include helmets, coats, pants and boots for firefighters. The fire company has about 55 active members, and the grant should cover new gear for about half of them, Wenger said.

Turnout gear should be replaced every five years but the company has some gear that is as old as 15 years old.

“We are very excited to get this grant,” Wenger said.

The city fire bureau will use its grant to buy a cascade system, which fills firefighters’ self-contained breathing apparatuses, said Chief Tim Gregg.

The system costs $50,000 and the fire bureau will fund the additional cost with money it has set aside in its budget, Gregg said.

The bureau’s current cascade system is old and needs to be replaced, Gregg said. At the same time, the city will begin leasing newer breathing apparatus for firefighters, which will be compatible with the new system.

The grant money for the two departments came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under the Department of Homeland Security, through a program that seeks to strengthen the health and safety of the nation’s first responders and those they serve.

Copyright 2012 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU