Iola firefighters will be outfitted head to toe in new personal gear thanks to a $56,587 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The grant also contains money for three new state-of-the-art thermal imaging devices.
“The FEMA grants became available after 9/11 to build up fire departments,” prompted by the realization that New York City firefighters didn’t have the equipment to be prepared for the twin towers disaster, said Don Leapheart, Iola fire chief.
The Iola department obtained a 3,000-gallon tanker through the same grant program in 2004 in conjunction with Allen County, which provided about $18,000 in matching funds. Iola firefighters maintain the truck and use it throughout the county.
Mark Michael, a firefighter, wrote the application for the grant about 18 months ago. Iola’s award was announced Friday.
“Much of the success for us getting the grant goes to Mark because of the thoroughness of the
application he wrote,” Leapheart said.
Iola’s 5 percent match for the grant is $2,978, which Leapheart said wouldn’t be a hurdle for his budget.
The new personal gear for each of 16 Iola firefighters will include helmet, coat, pants and boots.
The thermal imaging devices will replace one the department purchased by way of donations in 2000.
“The older one’s technology is outdated, just as it happens with computers,” Leapheart said. “The new ones are small, can do much more and have color screens that show temperature levels and images” of the scene they are trained on.
The devices’ primary purpose is to help in search and rescue at fire scenes where it is thought a person might be involved. They also may be used for fugitive searches — the older one has been used for that by Allen County officers.
Cost of the three cameras is about $18,000. They are expected to be in hand soon, Leapheart said, because “they shouldn’t have to be back-ordered like some of the bunker gear will.” He pointed out that FEMA grants went to many departments throughout the nation and equipment suppliers were likely overwhelmed by orders.
A third component of the grant is a requirement for IFD to put together a wellness program.
“Heart attacks and strokes kill more firefighters than anything else,” Michael said.
The wellness program includes yearly physicals and require firefighters to have personal fitness programs.
