EMFD gets safety upgrades

The EMFD, shown fighting a fire on Hempstead Turnpike last year, will receive new breathing apparatuses.

Courtesy Kevin Imm

The East Meadow Fire district is set to receive a significant equipment upgrade that will increase volunteer safety when fighting fires.

The district was recently approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to receive a $354,000 grant to replace their antiquated self-contained breathing apparatuses, a device worn by firefighters that provides breathable air to protect themselves in a fire or chemical emergency. Their old packs, said Commissioner Scott Farber, were about 20 years old, required constant, costly repairs, and no longer met the latest safety standards set forth by regulatory organizations, like the National Fire Protection Association.

The district had applied for this grant for many years, but was previously declined. “This was a great, great thing for us,” said Farber, who is in charge of securing grants for the fire district. “Anything we can do to offset a big cost like this makes it so much easier for us, not having to raise the budget anymore than the cap allows.”

The new SCBAs include a “pack tracker” to make it easier to locate a downed firefighter in hazardous conditions. If a firefighter has been motionless for about a minute, the tracker will emit a beeping noise. It could also be set off manually. “So as you’re getting closer to the firefighter,” Farber said, “it beeps louder and faster. You can find them easier.”

The masks have an LED lighting display to inform the firefighter when their low-air alarm is going off. This is a major upgrade from their old packs, where firefighters used a gauge to read their air supply levels. “Which, in a dark condition, you really can’t read,” Farber said.

New NFPA guidelines, said Farber, command that the low air alarm must go off when packs are down to a one-third supply. Previously, it was 10 percent.

One pack by itself, said Farber, cost more than $4,000.

The fire district will pay 10 percent of the grant, he said, equaling about $35,000. Farber estimated a purchase of about 65 to 80 SCBAs, and hopes to receive them by the end of the year.

The grant was awarded through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants program. “We’re ecstatic that we were able to secure this grant after years of being declined,” Farber said.

The next step is training the firefighters how to use the packs, a process he said has already begun. Even with the technological features, Farber said the weight difference between the new and old packs is less than a pound.

The EMFD has about 200 members, and serves some 55,000 residents in East Meadow, Levittown and Westbury. “In this day and age, every firefighter has to wear [an SCBA.],” said 37-year EMFD volunteer John O’Brien. “So there’s as many as 10 on every fire truck. And think how many fire trucks we have. It’s going to save taxpayers a lot of money for repairs.”