By Ellen Ast
Albany Democrat-Herald | Posted: Friday, February 8, 2008 12:00 am
HALSEY - The Halsey-Shedd Rural Fire Protection District will receive approximately $70,000 in grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help pay for exhaust ventilation systems inside three of its four stations.
The funds come from a $400,000 package of Assistance-to-Firefighters Grants from FEMA for four Oregon fire service disticts: Halsey-Shedd, Ashland, Boring and Mohawk Valley.
The grants aim to help local fire departments and emergency medical services organizations get training, conduct first responder health and safety programs and buy equipment and response vehicles.
Halsey Fire Chief Skip Smith said the grant will pay to install exhaust filters designed to automatically kick in when indoor carbon monoxide levels reach unsafe levels. They will only go in the Halsey, Shedd and Oakville stations because they each have living quarters, he added.
The total project comes to nearly $71,600 and the department had to agree to pay 10 percent of it in order to qualify for the FEMA grant. Smith said that 10 percent was included in this year's budget.
When the system is installed later this year, filtration units will hang from the apparatus bay ceiling. He said it will keep fumes from apparatuses from circulating through the rest of the building, such as offices and living and sleeping areas, where personnel have complained about the smell.
"It will be a good thing for our buildings and for our firefighters," Smith said.
FEMA says it plans to distribute $490 million of these grants this year to fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations throughout the country.
"Federal money is helping local fire departments," Smith said. "There are a lot of things that we wouldn't get if it weren't for federal money."