RIB MOUNTAIN, WI (WSAU) — South Area Fire and Emergency Rescue was awarded a $2,000 grant from the Wisconsin Public Service Foundation on Wednesday to purchase new gas detectors.
Deputy Fire Chief Eric Lang calls the devices essential equipment for his crews. “Carbon monoxide kills people every year. We have to know what those levels are. They also detect explosive limits of different gases and the amount of oxygen in the air so we know if it is being displaced.”
The devices aren’t new to SAFER. Lang says they had four of them but one had reached the end of its service life and was recently taken out of service. They’ll now have five of them in service which Lang says will allow a Battalion Chief to have one at all times because they are usually on scene before the trucks arrive.
Lang says the department is thankful for the grant because it’s no secret that municipal governments are strapped for cash these days. Any grant funding that they can get frees up tax dollars for other uses.
The multi-gas detection units are used on nearly every call, most often to determine if it’s safe for firefighters to take off their breathing apparatuses. Crews will also use them if a resident reports smelling gas in their home.
The award is part of the WPS Foundation’s Rewarding Responders Grant Program. Now in its tenth year, the program has awarded more than $500,000 worth of equipment to fire, police, and ambulance crews that operate within the Wisconsin Public Service coverage area. More than 200 different departments have benefited from the program since its inception.
Departments are eligible to receive grant funding once every two years.
