Local Fire Dept. Awarded Federal Grant

Good news for The Falls Township Fire Department, as they will soon have some new equipment.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown announced Thursday that the department is to be awarded a federal grant of more than $115,000, through a program designed to help firefighters and other first responders protect the public and themselves.

“It’s a really great feeling to get the phone call that you’ve been awarded the grant money, it takes a huge weight off of your shoulders, knowing that you now have this grant money to purchase this equipment and you have money now in the budget to maybe do something else you thought you were going to have to put off for a year or two,” said Assistant Chief, Joe Hunt.

Hunt said they hope to replace fire hoses and nozzles that were previously not up to standard by the National Fire Protection Association. The new hoses will help the firefighters better combat fires, and overall benefit the department and the community.

“We’ll be able to replace all of our fire hoses on every truck, a 5-inch fire hose, a 3-inch fire hose, both which are used for water supply, and a 2.5-inch hose, 1.75-inch hose which we use for interior attack operations for fighting fire,” Hunt said.

Over the past two years, the department has been awarded a half-a-million dollars in first-responder grants.