PARIS – The Fire Department received two separate federal grants from the Department of Homeland Security for a total of more than $45,000 to purchase new emergency response equipment, Paris Fire Chief Brad Frost said Tuesday.
Frost told the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting that a grant of $33,491 from the federal government will purchase a three-quarter-ton vehicle that will pull a trailer carrying decontamination equipment. The equipment would be used to decontaminate victims of a weapon of mass destruction such as a “dirty bomb” that spreads radiation poisoning, Frost said.
The decontamination gear also would treat victims who have been deliberately infected with biological agents, he said.
The new vehicle will be used by the towns of Paris, Norway and Oxford. The three towns have a total of 22 firefighters who serve together on a hazardous materials team that has undergone federal training for weapons of mass destruction.
Paris already has a half-ton pickup truck, but the vehicle is not heavy enough to pull the trailer, Frost said.
The second homeland security grant, totaling $11,900, will be used to buy four Rapid Intervention Team packs to help rescue firefighters who have been trapped inside a building at the scene of an emergency.
Norway, Oxford and Paris will each receive a pack. It is undetermined where the fourth pack will go, Frost said.
The packs are equipped with secondary air-supply cylinders. The three towns currently do not have rescue packs that are equipped with any type of backup supply that gives air to rescued firefighters, Frost said. The packs also contain air masks.
“The DHS money has been the best thing that has happened to us,” Frost said.
Federal homeland security grants are funneled to local emergency officials by the Maine Emergency Management Agency in Augusta, which determines the distribution of the monies after grant applications are submitted by emergency responders.
Frost said he received a letter Tuesday from Maine Emergency Management Agency verifying the grant amounts that will be given to Paris.
The grants given to Paris bring the total to $643,675 in homeland security money that has been distributed this year across Oxford County.
Other large grants went to Northern Oxford Regional Ambulance Service, which received $71,934 to purchase a new response vehicle, and SADs 17, 39 and 44, which received $318,856 to purchase emergency power and security equipment.
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