FEMA grant helps Deal get new fire equipment

Deal — The Borough of Deal’s Board of Commissioners reports that the Deal Fire Company No. 2 will receive a $60,000 federal grant to replace out-of-date rescue equipment.
The new extrication equipment will enable the town’s firefighters to rescue people trapped in a car after an accident or unable to move as a result of another calamity.  Extrication tools include hydraulically operated cutters and spreaders. Cutters enable firefighters to cut through buckled car metal as a scissors would do to cloth, while spreaders widen cut metal to allow extrication of a pinned individual.

The $60,376 award is an Assistance to Firefighters Grant from Region II of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and was announced this week by Dale McShine, Director of the Grants Division of the Region.

The federal share of the grant totals $57,501.  The grant became effective July 31.

“This rescue capability is a key part of our fire company’s responsibility in Deal and in assisting our neighboring communities,” said Fire Chief John Anastasia. “And we value this grant because it takes the place of our aging equipment and will allow us to do our job more safely and effectively,” he added.

McShine pointed out that in 2013, Assistance to Firefighter Grants provided funding of $21.9 million to 192 fire departments and EMS agencies throughout Region II, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

“We know that these grants play major roles in the local communities that receive them,” she said, “and we are very pleased to be a part of this process.”