The department has used a $164,000 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to purchase close to two dozen new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus devices, an equal number of spare breathing bottles, 53 new face pieces and two new Pack-Finders, which attach to firefighters' equipment to help other department members locate them if they're in distress.
The assistance comes at a time when the department, like many others across the country, is grappling with staffing issues and other challenges. Another grant recently allowed the hiring of a handful of new firefighters to bolster the department’s ranks.
Stoughton has seen at least three significant house fires in the past two months, on Pearl Street, Prospect Street and Sumner Street.