The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that the State of Michigan will receive $854,809 in grants to assist local fire departments and medical emergency organizations, including a $180,000 grant for the Orion Township Fire Department.
Orion’s grant was the the highest amount received by any fire department in the state.
The funds are part of the Fiscal Year 2005 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFGP), which will issue approximately 5,500 awards worth $600 million in direct assistance to firefighters and first responders throughout the country.
Orion Township Fire Chief Jeff Key said his department applied for the grant to fund the purchase of new self-contained breathing apparatuses, to replace ones currently used by the department that Key said are not in compiance with new equipment standards.
‘It’s quite an expense to replace them,? he said.
‘We applied (for grant money) to replace 50 apparatuses…they are the air tanks we wear on our backs.?
Key said the department was just notified that they had received the grant, and he was not sure when the department would be receiving the money to purchase the new equipment.