With interstate highways running through the Valley, area hazmat teams get called into action pretty frequently for crashes. The Bridgewater Fire Department is home to important equipment that serves all of Rockingham County, including the county's hazmat truck. A Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant could help the firefighters get this equipment out more quickly.
Currently, the station has six full time firefighters, allowing them to keep two at the station 24 hours a day --the minimum number needed to take an engine to a call.
That means, if a call required another piece of equipment, including a hazmat truck, it wouldn't be possible.
The SAFER grant from FEMA would solve that problem, making Valley firefighters' jobs a little easier --firefighters like Capt. Clay Shiflet. "And that additional person would allow us to bring the hazmat truck, if it was that type of incident that we needed it, or the ladder truck or the brush truck or the tanker, if it deems, so having that additional person really frees us up to bring additional apparatus," Capt. Shiflet told WHSV.
Shiflet said an additional crew member on each shift would also help with station maintenance as well as more realistic training exercises, all designed to keep you safe.
The grant application is due in the next couple of weeks and could be awarded in the next few months.