For New Jersey’s Whitehouse Fire Company, filling SCBA cylinders took additional time, travel, and resources.
“In the past they had to bring the SCBA cylinders to a neighboring department to get them filled after training or a fire,” explains Greg Bavis, Grants Consultant for First Responder Grants.
Going forward, Whitehouse Fire Company #1 in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey will be able to fill SCBA cylinders in-house. Whitehouse was awarded an AFG equipment fire grant on February 24, 2023, in the amount of $71,688.
This fire grant award came under the FY 2021 AFG program, which is still being awarded almost five months after the fiscal year ended for the FY 2021 AFG. Awards are still being made with the $90 million in CARES Act funding that was allotted to FY 2021 AFG.
Whitehouse Fire Company will use the award to purchase a SCBA compressor for the department.
“This award will not only save time getting back in service for emergency response,” says Greg, “but also save the department on travel expenses to get the cylinders filled.”