Members of the Blue Ridge Fire and Rescue celebrated a $54,260 assistance to firefighter grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency with U.S. Congressman Bill Shuster and Washington Township staff. The grant will go toward updating equipment to keep them safe in any environment where there is a live burning fire, according to Jim Meek, the chief of the department.
The protective clothing that is worn into a fire has a shelf life of 10 years and after that it needs to be replaced. Equipment isn't cheap. A full suit for an individual firefighter is around $2,600 which means departments either have to find the money to replace the equipment or pull firefighters out of service, according to Meek.
Regulations make firefighting an expensive proposition, but in the long run the increased safety makes it worth it for the people on the front lines.
Shuster was a member of Congress who pushed for the legislation. He said he has to make sure that money from the grants is dispersed to places that need the money and where it can have the largest impact.
"In small communities like this it's more important that tax dollars from D.C. are coming home," said Shuster.
He also said that making sure that small community fire departments are up-to-date with their equipment is important on a national level. Any disaster from a hurricane to a terrorist attack requires people in nearby communities to help and the community that sends their emergency crews will usually also need help in their own community. This can create a chain that ends up pulling from departments far away from the site of the disaster as back-up.