A state fire marshal grant will help the Putnam County Fire Department purchase new safety equipment.
Putnam County Fire Chief Jeff Hicks said the department will be purchasing six new sets of turnout gear, four air packs, and six self-contained breathing apparatus bottles. Hicks said the $63,400 grant will improve firefighter safety.
“Anything you can do to help the men and women of the department is huge,” Hicks said. “And that’s what the SCBAs for, the turnout gear to protect them from thermal mainly, but it also protects their skin from absorption of other carcinogens. So I mean, it’s huge. It’s just something you have to have if you are gonna be in this business.”
Hicks said fire departments have to change out gear every 10-15 years. Hicks said the grant is crucial as the cost of fire equipment has drastically risen over the past several years.
“You are looking at $9,400 just for pants and coat for one person,” Hicks said. “So I mean you know, when you think we have 80 members in our department, if we had to outfit all of them all at once, it would be very sizeable and then in 10 years we would have to do it again, so that’s why we try to do so many sets a year.”
Hicks said the fire department is always searching for grants to improve the department.
“We would like to have our own training facility someday, so we are always looking for that,” Hicks said. “Again, we are applying for this grant, where we have some other needs throughout the county.”
The grant is part of an estimated $20 million that comes from the Volunteer Firefighting Equipment and Training Grant Program. Hicks said the Putnam County Fire Department qualified for the grant with a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters.
