David Mach, a volunteer firefighter and the preparer of the grant, stated, “I started working on this grant four years ago with the help of Wildfire Truck and Equipment to put this grant together. It had been so long that we had almost forgotten about it.”  

Garrett VFD Fire Chief Randy Thomas said the department first learned they received the grant in August but will have to wait until May for the truck to arrive.

Justen Diaz, Memphis fire chief, said the departments are jointly applying for a $1.8 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said the grant would pay for about 350 hand-held 800 megahertz radios.  

Memphis is the lead department in applying for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant.

"Currently, the majority of departments in St. Clair County operate with Motrola XTS radios, and Motorola has discontinued that model," Diaz said. "Fire departments are struggling with getting repairs on them and parts for them."

He said most of the departments purchased hand-held radios using grant funds about 10 years ago, and the radios are coming to the end of their lives.

"We are pretty much on schedule and we are on budget," said Peter Cross, chairman of the Hyannis Fire District Board of Commissioners, while leading the Times on a tour of the new facility Friday morning. "I don't believe in spending a penny we don't have to spend," he said. The $18.5 million, 32,000-square-foot facility was approved by district voters in April 2016. It was the fourth vote taken for a new fire station since 2014. The first three votes failed to receive the necessary two-thirds votes required for passage.