Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Fire companies to split $90K
Officials say federal funding to be used for needed equipment
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Fire companies in Duanesburg and Niskayuna will divide up more than $90,000 worth of funding secured this month through the federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
    Niskayuna Fire District 1 will get the lion’s share of the funding with $69,160, according to a release from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. The grant will be used to replace the company’s aging self-contained breathing apparatus units, which can cost in excess of $4,500 each.
    Niskayuna Fire Chief Dale Lingenfelter said the grant funding will help the department replace packs that were nearly two decades old. He said the grant will allow for the purchase about a dozen packs, which will round out the 30 the department optimally needs.
    In addition, Niskayuna will be able to purchase extra oxygen tanks and rapid intervention team packs. Lingenfelter said this year’s grant is the second his department has received from the program after applying five times.
    “It’s much needed,” he said Monday. “This helps us alleviate a little bit of a burden on the taxpayers.”
    The Duanesburg Fire Department will receive $22,300 of the funding, which is a little less than half of what the company had originally requested to buy new turnout gear. Second Assistant Chief Scott Rowley said some of the grant money will go toward purchasing an explosion-proof oxygen refi ll station that will be mounted on a refurbished 1976 fire truck the department recently purchased from Latham.
    Rowley said Duanesburg will also buy a number of bail-out kits. These are tools that allow fi refi ghters to make a hasty escape from two- and three-story buildings in the event they need to evacuate a structure immediately.
    The grant program is administered through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and aimed at bolstering local fire departments. Since 2004, the program has provided emergency agencies with nearly $2.75 billion for the purchase of equipment and vehicles.
    “These grants provide funding for...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00802