Whitefield Fire and Rescue will be able to purchase a breathable air compression system for the municipal station, due to a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant the department was recently awarded.
Whitefield selectmen broke out in applause when they received the news at their Sept. 29 meeting.
The $43,810 grant, combined with a $2,190 co-payment from the department’s capital reserve account will enable the department to fill its portable air tank and individual air packs for firefighters in-house. Whitefield Fire and Rescue currently travels to the Togus Veterans Hospital to fill its air tank and packs.
The errand, essential to the functioning of the volunteer department, takes approximately four hours to complete, department officials said. The department anticipates the grant will be finalized and the breathable air system will be purchased by September 2016, Whitefield Fire Chief Scott Higgins said.
The department has already identified a location for the breathable air compression unit and evaluated its integration into the electrical system at the municipal station.
The grant took approximately 10 months to apply for, Higgins said – a time investment the department was willing to make to avoid increases to the budget. “We could never budget for something like this,” Higgins said.
Higgins and Whitefield EMS director Lynn Talacko made a promise to selectmen to hold the department budget’s line for as long as possible, they said. For the past three years, Whitefield Fire and Rescue’s budget has remained flat, selectmen said.
“We’re going to keep chipping away at these grants,” Higgins said. “This way we can keep funding the department and not have to ask taxpayers for money.”
Selectmen thanked the department profusely for their efforts in obtaining the grant. Despite still having to complete months worth of finalizing paperwork for the breathable air compression system, the department is already eyeing another grant opportunity to potentially obtain extrication equipment for use in car accidents.
The breathable air compression system will be “an enormous asset” to the town, Higgins said. Nearly every fire response requires the use of an air pack, he said. The system will also enable the department to support other mutual aid partners that currently do not have their own air system, Higgins said.
Whitefield Fire and Rescue recently requested use of the Maine Fire Service Institute’s smoke training trailer and put the department’s firefighters through strenuous training to increase their comfort and familiarity with their air packs. (see story page 1A)
“The greatest thing about this grant is it gives us the ability to train harder,” Whitefield Deputy Fire Chief Tom Feeney said. “We won’t have to be conservative in our air use. We’ll always have a full supply.”
In the previous winter, when Whitefield Fire and Rescue responded to four structure fires in the span of a week, filling air packs was a struggle, officials said. “This is going to give us options and independence,” Talacko said.
Whitefield Fire and Rescue will have to complete finalizing paperwork for the federal funds to be dispersed to the town. Once the funds are dispersed, the breathable air compression system will be purchased and put into use.
