The Monterey Fire Department will purchase new breathing apparatus with money from a State Fire Marshal Grant.
Fire Chief Kevin Peters said with old equipment you never know when the equipment will go out fighting a fire. The department will use $42,000 to buy four self-breathing apparatuses.
“Well the old ones are 25 years old so they are outdated,” Peters said. “They’ve seen their life expectancy well above it and it’s just new technology too that’s in these that weren’t in the old ones.”
Peters said the new apparatuses will be a new brand so eventually the fire department will have to find funding to replace the remaining apparatuses.
“We can’t mix the tanks and stuff,” Peters said. “So it’s gonna be just a little tricky trying to keep everything separated for the next couple of years.”
Peters said the average cost for a self-breathing apparatus is $11,000. Peters said he is appreciative of receiving the grant as otherwise, the city would have had to come up with the funds to replace all of the apparatuses.
“Oh yeah we are thankful and I think we might be able to get four more from our budget that we already have in place for this year,” Peters said. “So maybe we can get eight as a total.”
Peters said the department tries to have eight firefighters at the station at all times and that is why the department is targeting to have eight new apparatuses.
