Sandy Hook Firefighters To Receive New Equipment  

By Andrew Gorosko

Sandy Hook volunteer firefighters have been awarded a competitive federal grant to be used to buy a variety of equipment designed to aid and protect them while fighting fires.

The Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company will receive an approximately $143,000 grant from the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Assistance to Firefighters program. The fire company’s contribution toward the equipment acquisition grant program is approximately $7,000.

Congressman Christopher Murphy announced that the fire company will receive the grant.

“We rely on our firefighters to keep our families safe, and it’s critical that they have the equipment they need to get the job done. This is great news for everyone in Sandy Hook because the capability and reliability of the new equipment makes everyone safer, including the firefighters,” Rep Murphy said in a statement.

Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead said this week that the grant will provide firefighters with a range of gear that will help them with their duties.

The grant will be used to acquire 20 new Scott-brand Air-Paks, he said. An Air-Pak is a “self-contained breathing apparatus” which firefighters wear on their backs to provide a supply of fresh air to breathe while in smoky environments. Also, the grant will pay for 20 spare air bottles to be used with the Air-Paks, he said.

The new air bottles will contain 45-minute air supplies, compared to the fire company’s existing Air-Paks which hold 30-minute air supplies, Chief Halstead said. Also, the grant money will be used to acquire 25 spare air masks to be used with the Air-Paks, he said.

The grant money also will cover costs for a specialized version of an Air-Pak that would be used as a secondary air supply for a firefighter requiring additional fresh air when that firefighter is being rescued from a trapped condition, he said.

Sandy Hook firefighters also will acquire 15 new portable two-way radios that will allow them to communicate with one another during emergencies, he said. The radios will be stored in electrical charging devices inside fire vehicles, the fire chief said.

Also, the volunteer fire company will acquire a new thermal imaging camera, which firefighters use to detect hidden fires lurking inside structures.

Chief Halstead said he expects the fire company to have the new equipment on hand by April.

“It’s a morale booster,” the fire chief said of the acquisition of new firefighting equipment.

Some of the Air-Paks now in use by the fire company date back to the early 1990’s, he noted.

“It’s nice to have the latest equipment,” he said. The fire company needs to have suitable equipment on hand to protect its personnel while they are fighting fires, he said.

“This grant will improve firefighter safety, (radio) interoperability with other (fire) departments, along with bringing our equipment up to date with current standards,” according to Chief Halstead.

If the fire company were to acquire the various equipment through the normal town budgeting process, it would take many annual budget cycles to obtain that gear, he said.

Chief Halstead said that the grant marks the third time that Sandy Hook firefighters have been awarded such DHS equipment grants. Overall, those grants represent about $400,000 worth of new equipment for the organization, he said. Because the fire company is a volunteer group, it is always seeking donations, he added.

Chief Halstead noted that the successful grant application which resulted in the fire company receiving the $143,000 in federal money was prepared by Fire Lieutenant John Jeltema and by Bill Halstead, Jr.

Rep Murphy had written a letter of support for the fire company’s grant application to the DHS last July. The congressman explained that in view of strained municipal budgets and decreased donations to volunteer fire companies across the state, funding for such equipment acquisitions was unlikely to be available at the local level.

The DHS Assistance to Firefighters program has distributed more than $4 billion across the US for training and equipment acquisition since 2001.