 |
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded the Sebago Fire Department a $32,860 grant for equipment and training under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program for Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08). The Assistance to Firefighters Program is administered by the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate
(FEMA) and is intended to protect the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related hazards.
The Sebago Fire Department will use its FY08 grant to conduct a certified Fire Fighter I training program for 14 Sebago firefighters and 16 firefighters from neighboring mutual aid departments. Training funds will also be used to train 20 Sebago firefighters and EMS personnel in AVOC/EVOC safe driving techniques. In addition, equipment funds will be used to purchase a quantitative respirator fit test device to be used for annual Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) tests required of all interior attack firefighters. Funds from this grant must be spent during the one-year grant period, which runs from November 2008 until November 2009.
This is the seventh AFG grant that the Sebago Fire Department has won during the last six years in a row, totaling nearly $400,000 in grants from this program, and includes:
Grant Year |
Total AFG Grant |
Used For |
FY08 |
$32,860 |
SCBA fit testing equipment, firefighter training. |
FY07 |
$50,900 |
Extrication Equipment |
FY07 |
$59,000 |
Replace Tank Truck #1 |
FY06 |
$75,060 |
Rapid Intervention Team and Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) equipment |
FY05 |
$76,451 |
Mass Casualty/Rehab trailer, Turnout gear, Wild land fire gear |
FY04 |
$54,175 |
Radios, Ice Water Rescue gear, Cascade air system, tag-up system |
FY03 |
$50,853 |
Turn out gear, SCBA equipment |
Total AFG |
$397,299 |
|
In addition to these AFG grants the town has also been awarded $35,907 in other grants. These include: (1) a FY07 grant from the Maine Emergency Management Authority for $25,000 to purchase emergency power generators for the town’s emergency shelter, town offices and fire station #1; (2) a 2006 grant for $5,907 from the Narragansett Foundation for AEDs and training to help the town be a “heart safe” community; and (3) a FY07 $5,000 federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) planning grant to conduct a survey of Sebago’s seniors and residents with disabilities.
Every grant that the town has received has been used to replace old and outdated equipment or to provide new services and equipment to help protect the life and property of the residents of Sebago as well as surrounding towns through mutual aid agreements, and to provide vital training for firefighters and EMS personnel. At the same time these grants reduce the need for raising these funds through local property taxes.
| |
