Fire department wins $75,000 in rescue equipment

The Washington Fire Department was one of only two towns in Iowa to win a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant in the most recent round of applications. The department can now purchase $75,000 worth of rescue equipment, which FEMA will pay for.

Fire Chief Tom Wide said he is very pleased his department won the grant. The only thing missing from it is money to train his firefighters in the equipment?s use, which will come from other sources.

?We feel fortunate to receive the funding,? said Wide. ?Spirit Lake was the only other city to receive money this time.?

The rescue equipment is for three specific types of rescue: confined space, trench and high-angle.

?A confined space could be something like a storage tank or a manhole,? said Wide. ?It is any place where you have restricted means of entry or exit.?

A significant portion of the equipment purchases will relate to breathing apparatuses. When a firefighter enters a smoky room or one in which there are harmful chemicals, he wears an air tank that lasts 20-30 minutes. The new equipment will allow the firefighter to breathe for a full hour, and won?t require him to wear the tank on his back. He will breathe through a hose connected to an air tank in a secure location.

The trench rescue equipment is to save someone who is trapped underground. Wide said that maintenance employees who work on water lines and farmers who install tile face this risk. The trench rescue equipment includes pieces of plywood that are inserted into the ground to shore up the sides and prevent the soil from collapsing even further during a rescue.

?Right now, we don?t have much set up to perform such a rescue,? said Wide.

A high-angle rescue refers to helping someone who is stranded high in the air. The new equipment will allow the firefighters to assist victims who are out of reach of the department?s aerial truck.

?We have a lot of grain storage and grain elevator legs that are pretty tall,? said Wide. ?If a person needs to be removed from one of those areas, we?ll have the equipment to do that.?