Guthrie Fire Department receives $76,343 federal grant

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded a $76,343.00 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) to the Guthrie Fire Department.  The money will be used to purchase protective gear for firefighters and life-saving medical equipment for the department’s ambulances.

Photo Courtesy of the Guthrie Fire Department

Specifically, the funds will allow the purchase of firefighting ensembles for all of the department’s firefighters for use in combatting wild land and grass fires.  Each firefighter will be equipped with special, lightweight coats and pants, boots, helmets and gloves.  This gear is much lighter and affords the firefighter to stay cooler, especially in the late summer wild fire season when daytime temperatures normally exceed 100 degrees.  Cardiac issues account for the majority of line-of-duty injuries and death in the fire service.  “Heat stress during firefighting operations is a common problem encountered by firefighting personnel and we try to do anything we can to keep them more comfortable and make their job easier and safer,” said Guthrie Fire Chief Eric Harlow.

The funds will also allow the purchase of 12-lead heart monitors with built in blood pressure monitoring, CO monitoring and Pulse Oximetry for the department’s ambulances.  The monitors will greatly enhance the department’s EMT’s abilities to diagnose and treat medical conditions in the field.  Being able to recognize cardiac issues early-on in a medical emergency will allow for the appropriate treatment to be administered or requested and it ensures the patient is transported to the most appropriate medical facility.  “This is a huge hurdle that we have cleared in our department’s goal of becoming a Paramedic Life Support agency,” Chief Harlow stated.  “The capital outlay involved in purchasing these monitors was a huge hindrance to this goal and now, thanks to the federal government, we’ve cleared that obstacle,” Harlow added.

Nationally, the AFG awards, which will be distributed in phases, will ultimately provide approximately $285 million to fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations throughout the country.