Fla. dept receives grant to repair equipment

Palm Beach Fire-Rescue received a similar $5,000 grant last year for underwater rescue dive gear

April 15, 2011 05:15 AM

By Margie Kacoha
Palm Beach Daily News

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Palm Beach Fire-Rescue will replace and repair components of its equipment bay ventilation system at the Central Station this spring at no cost to the town, according to Fire-Rescue officials.

The department received a $6,056 grant from two insurance groups Wednesday.

The money will be used for tubes that capture emissions and route them out and away from the bay, and the station’s living and office quarters. Those large hoses are attached to the department’s vehicles at each of the three stations.

Once the rescue units, engines and ladder trucks are started up and fumes are generated, the tubes catch the emissions as the vehicles roll out of the station and send them out through the roof. The tubes then automatically release from the vehicles when the rescue units leave the station on a call, Fire-Rescue officials explain.

Not only do the exhaust fumes smell bad, but the carbon monoxide and other possibly carcinogenic emissions can lead to health risks to those exposed, according to Lt./Medic Mark Bradshaw.

According to Assistant Chief of Administration Brian Fuller, the department will not repair or replace the systems at the other two stations at this time.

“Central is in the most need of an upgrade,” Fuller said Wednesday.

The money was provided by Frank Crystal & Co. — a specialty insurance brokerage firm — and the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.

The Fireman’s Fund has made grants of more than $27 million to more than 1,500 fire departments since 2004, according to Executive Consultant Sam Nager. Frank Crystal & Co. is an independent insurance agency that carries Fireman’s Fund products.

Palm Beach Fire-Rescue received a similar $5,000 grant last year for underwater rescue dive gear. Jamie Gordon, executive director of Frank Crystal & Co., said this year’s grant is satisfying in that the new equipment will directly benefit the health and well being of firefighters.

EMS Grants