NJ Firefighters to Receive New Breathing Apparatuses

Stanhope Wins Federal Grant of Nearly $158,000

New York, NY — The 3,548 residents of the Borough of Stanhope will be safer because the town’s 40 volunteer firefighters will be better equipped with their 19 new self-contained breathing apparatuses, Dale McShine, Director of Grants for FEMA’s Region II, said here today. 

The new equipment for Stanhope Hose Company #1 is made possible, Ms. McShine said, by an Assistance to Firefighters Grant, or AFG, which is administered by FEMA, of $157,776.  The local share comes to $8,303.

Brian McNeilly, the borough’s administrator, says all the firefighters are very pleased with the new equipment.  He said that it will replace units that were at least ten years old, were expensive to repair, and not compliant with National Fire Protection Association criteria.  “These new units,” he pointed out, “provide a much broader field of vision, which is critical.”  “Each of these new units,” he added, “is equipped with a personal alert safety system, which automatically summons assistance” should a firefighter become incapacitated or overwhelmed. 

“Perhaps the most important benefit for our borough,” McNeilly observed, is that “with our small population, our firefighting volunteers are our neighbors, so when a fire or other emergency breaks out, it’s a matter of neighbors helping neighbors.”

FEMA’s Dale McShine said that the AFG program has been aiding firefighters and other first responders since 2001, “providing critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources” needed to help the public and emergency responders from fire and related hazards.

Tania Hedlund, FEMA’s Branch Chief for Grants, reported that, in 2012, the AFG provided funding of $25,340,000 for FEMA’s Region II (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands).

For further information, please contact William H. Douglass at FEMA:  212-680-3665 or 917-561-3223.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

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