The Department of Homeland Security announced today that the Gates Fire District has been awarded a grant for the purchase of new Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBAs). The total cost for this project will be $379,800 with the federal government covering 90% of the cost for the purchase of this equipment.
The funds will be used to purchase new, state of the art, self-contained breathing apparatus, including spare cylinders and facepieces. Our current SCBAs are old, obsolete, damaged, and non-compliant with the latest National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) safety standards. These older models of SCBAs could potentially place our members at risk and presents us with equipment interoperability issues with our neighboring fire departments.
The new SCBAs are necessary to allow us to continue to provide effective fire/rescue services to our community, while appropriately protecting our firefighters’ health and safety. Without federal assistance, updating this personal protective equipment would be extremely challenging, as our District’s financial outlook continues to worsen due to the downturn in our economy and New York State’s 2% cap on annual taxation rates. The AFG funds we have been awarded will be put to priority use in ensuring the welfare of our members and the people they protect.
We will begin to have conversation with several SCBA vendors and conduct a series of field tests and evaluations to determine the best equipment to purchase for our firefighters.
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