The Ben Lomond Fire Protection District, on behalf of itself and the Boulder Creek, Felton and Zayante Fire Protection districts, has been awarded a $536,164 Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security.
The money will fund 90 percent of the cost of new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus for firefighters in each department.
The goal of obtaining this grant project was to immediately improve the health and safety of firefighters with the new equipment that supplies firefighters with breathable air during an active fire or other incidents where breathable air is compromised.
Of all the protective gear that firefighters put on before entering an fire that is immediately dangerous to life and health, portable breathing units are the most important, said Ben Lomond Fire Chief Stacie Brownlee.
She said the current age of the San Lorenzo Valley districts’ breaking equipment is over 10 years of heavy use during emergency incidents and training.
The new grant is the largest ever received by the San Lorenzo Valley Fire departments.\
The volunteer fire departments pooled resources to put up 10 percent, or $53,616, of the total costs of the new equipment.
“There was a great team effort preparing this grant under the direction of engineer Dan Arndt who authored the grant,” said Brownlee.
“The funding made available by the 2016 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program will allow us to outfit our first responders with much-needed Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, which is a key component of their equipment when entering hazardous environments.
“This award will allow our first responders to have the equipment they need to be able to do their job safely and allow everyone to go home to their families after the emergency incident.”
“I would like to thank FEMA, the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and others,” Brownlee said in a statement.
