The Department of Homeland Security awards Assistance to Firefighters Grant to the Goshen Fire Department
GOSHEN – On Wednesday, February 3, 2010 Senator Edward Kennedy’s office notified Fire Chief Susan M. Labrie of the grant award from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant. The Goshen Fire Department’s project will total $40,000. The Federal share is 95% or $38,000. Goshen’s share is 5%, or $2,000. The grant will be used to purchase a breathing air cylinder fill station with an air quality monitoring system and compressor to fill the air cylinders firefighters use in their Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and an Oxygen fill station to fill the Oxygen tanks that EMTs and First Responders use. According to Chief Labrie, the grant will provide Goshen firefighters the ability to fill air cylinders in the station, a capability not currently available. It also will provide a safer way to fill oxygen tanks. Both fill stations will meet current standards for containment in case of cylinder failure. This protects the person filling the cylinder as well as anyone nearby.
The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical services organizations. Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders to obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources needed to protect the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards. The Grant Programs Directorate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency administers the grants in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.