Funded by $53,000 FEMA grant
For the second year in a row, a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has allowed the Ellijay Fire Department to modernize its equipment and improve emergency response capability.
Per FEMA.gov, the purpose of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant is “to enhance the safety of the public and firefighters with respect to fire-related hazards by providing direct financial assistance to eligible fire departments, nonaffiliated Emergency Medical Services organizations and state fire training academies.”
Ellijay Fire received a $53,000 grant to purchase new vehicle extrication equipment, which was recently delivered to the city fire station, confirmed Deputy Fire Chief Mike Dempsey.
“This grant was for the 2018 period. Once you have the grant (paperwork) in, it takes about a year or two for them to go through everything and award them. Last year, (we received a grant) for the 2017 period,” he added.
That previous grant allowed Ellijay Fire to purchase new air packs and bottles, which replaced outdated safety equipment.
Items purchased with the most recent grant
include a full set of Hurst eDRAULIC rescue tools
including a cutter -(the tool commonly known as the jaws of life) -spreader, ram and accessories, as well
as an eDRAULIC combi tool.
“This tool is a combination cutter/spreader and will be placed in service on rescue (truck) 15. It’s a new tool for us and will allow for quicker response,” explained Dempsey.
A Res-Q-Jack system also funded by the grant gives first responders the ability to stabilize wrecked vehicles in such unsafe situations as on their side or roof, while a new Hurst Vetter airbag system is capable of lifting 47 tons and can be used for many different emergency response situations, Dempsey noted.
“This equipment will be an asset to our department and community for many years to come,” he added.
“Between all the new equipment, we’ve put some on our ladder truck, our rescue truck and our front- line engine. The majority of it is going on our front-line engine.”
Some of the extrication equipment that will be replaced with the newer tools was purchased used when the city fire department formed almost 20 years ago, Dempsey noted.
The new extrication tools are all battery powered, while the stabilization equipment is manual and the airbags are air-powered, Dempsey noted.
According to the Hurst company website, the term “eDRAULIC” applies to rescue equipment powered by electrohydraulics, which converts electrical energy into hydraulic force.
“Those tools that were on our front-line engine have a power unit and hoses. If we have something off an embankment or somewhere like that, there’s more equipment we have to take. These new tools do not require hydraulic hoses or a power unit to run them, which will make it a whole lot easier and faster to deploy them,” Dempsey explained.
The technology of battery-powered rescue tools has come a long way in the last few years, he noted.
“You’re seeing a trend in fire departments where a lot of these gas-powered tools we’ve used for years and years (are now being replaced by) battery-powered equipment. The battery equipment -— chainsaws, for example —has gotten a lot better,” Dempsey said.
The most recent Assistance to Firefighters Grant was awarded to 1,834 departments nationwide, 30 of which are in Georgia.
“This is really big for a department our size. Just to get it the first year was huge. Only two departments in the north Georgia mountains (received this grant) — us and, I believe, Towns County. It’s very competitive,” Dempsey said.
“We’ve also applied for the 2019 (period) grant. If we get that one, we should know in 2021,” he added.