By Paul Peirce
Tribune-Review (Greensburg, PA)
Copyright 2006 Tribune Review Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
The nation’s firefighters and police can expect U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration grants to double next year to $25.8 million, agency chief Thomas Barrett and U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy announced Wednesday in Irwin.
Barrett and Murphy, a Republican from Upper St. Clair, Allegheny County, traveled to Westmoreland County yesterday to observe firsthand how local fire departments spend the federal grant money allotted to states by the subsidiary agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Barrett announced the agency will award a $400,000 grant to Pennsylvania this year that will be split among state firefighters and police to deal with hazardous-materials incidents.
Next year, Murphy said, first responders nationwide can expect the amount to double from $12.8 million to $25.8 million under federal legislation passed by Congress during the summer.
“These grants are designed to give local leaders the tools needed to improve hazmat planning and training for the first responders, improving community safety and preparedness should a hazardous-materials incident occur,” Barrett said.
Murphy pointed out that 17 firefighters in Westmoreland are receiving hazardous-materials training certification using the grants. Since 1993, about 1.9 million responders have received training.
The program also helps the nation’s 4,000 local emergency planning committees prepare and carry out hazardous-materials emergency response plans and conduct commodity flow studies that can identify transportation hazards.
Irwin fire Chief Keith Gray demonstrated some of the equipment purchased with federal grant money, plus items such as infrared cameras, an on-site chemical analysis unit and a radiation detector that are available to all local fire departments through the county’s hazardous materials Team 800 truck.
Gray said he was pleased the federal officials chose the Irwin department for the announcement.
“We’re very pleased they came here. The bottom line is that we could not do or afford some of these things without the county’s participation,” Gray said.