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Jessamine County Fire District awarded three grants

March 07, 2012|By Mike Moore | mmoore@jessaminejournal.com

The Jessamine County Fire District received three grants totaling $11,186 to replace equipment that was old, fire chief Mike Rupard said.

“The grants are replacing equipment we wore out training or utilizing in operations,” he said. “That was the purpose for the requests.”

The first grant was from Kentucky American Water for $494 to purchase an automated external defibrillation (AED) training device.

“It’s a computerized AED to where they guys can train on their CPR and it evaluates you while you’re doing it to make sure you’re doing it correctly,” Rupard said.

The fire district uses these devices not only for patients that they care for as first responders, but they also have these tools available to treat a firefighter, if the need arises.

The second grant was from Kentucky Emergency Management for $3,800 to purchase side sonar and rappelling equipment.

The side sonar will be used for water recovery of drowning victims. The rappelling equipment purchased will replace four rappelling harnesses that are used for high-angle rope-rescue situations.

“We got about 50 percent what we asked for,” Rupard said. “We were actually denied it, but I went to the state and argued our point as to why we need it.”

Rupard said an administration issue was the reason for the initial denial.

The third grant was from the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security for $6,872. That money will go toward the purchase of four self-contained breathing apparatuses to be utilized for confined-space rescues.

Rupard said over the course of time, equipment has to be replaced as it becomes worn out.

“We’ve had missions, and the equipment is old and worn out,” Rupard said.

The fire district applied for the grants in late 2011.

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