ROYALSTON – The fire department has secured a federal grant that will pay for some much-needed equipment as well as for hazmat training for a dozen or more of its members.

Fire Chief Eric Jack said the Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant of just over $66,000 will be used to purchase a new breathing air compressor and air bottle filling station. The new equipment will replace a 40-year-old unit which fails to comply with National Fire Protection Association regulations.

“For lack of a better term, it’s an air compressor for the breathing air that we use in our air bottles,” Jack said. “The one that we currently have was a used unit that we bought many years ago, and it doesn’t build a high enough pressure to fill our bottles adequately.

“You’re also required now by NFPA to have a blast-proof container to fill the bottles in so that, if one were to rupture during filling, it’s not going to injure the crew that’s filling it. Currently, we don’t have that; we just have an aluminum box with a couple of tubes in it that you but the bottles in and fill them. It’s well past its useful life.”

Jack said the department’s air bottles need to be refilled every time firefighters respond to a fire or participate in training. He said Royalston was in the position of having to re-fill the bottles at other departments in the area. Jack added that he expects delivery of the unit sometime this fall.

The cost of the new equipment is estimated to be $50,000, according to Jack. The remaining $16,000 will be used to provide 24 hours of training for all department members to become certified as Hazardous Materials First Responders.

“That also includes hiring a company to do the training if we’re unable to get the fire academy to do it,” he said. “The idea is to have the training in Royalston as opposed to trying to send everybody in different waves to the fire academy. It’s much more convenient for the department if we can host it locally, and the plan is – if we have open seats – to invite neighboring communities if they have folks that need it.”

He said approximately a dozen Royalston firefighters – which is most of the department – would be required to take part in the training.

This is the third year in a row that Royalston has received an Assistance to Firefighters grant. The grants are extremely competitive, with only 2,000 out of 18,000 applications getting approved.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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