A federal grant will enable Ashland Fire and Rescue to upgrade breathing equipment and provide health screenings for all of its firefighters, MailTribune.com reported.
Ashland Fire and Rescue announced the $365,181 award Monday from the Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Without this grant, due to Ashland’s tight budget, the department would have struggled to update its outdated equipment, according to a statement put out by Ashland Fire and Rescue.
The breathing equipment — called self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA — consists of air tanks carried on packs worn by firefighters, with face pieces to prevent breathing super-heated air or smoke filled with toxic chemicals, according to the statement.
The packs include an alarm system for fallen or trapped firefighters. Connections allow firefighters to aid each other by hooking into another breathing pack, supplying air from a full tank to one running low, the report said.
