RVCFD receives FEMA money

The Rockville Centre Fire Department received $60,000 in reimbursement money from FEMA for their overtime work during the March 2010 storm, said RVCFD Chief John Busching at the Board of Trustees meeting on Feb. 4.

The money received will go toward new, potentially life-saving equipment, Busching said, at no extra cost to the village.

“We’ll take what we can get,” Busching joked, referencing a wait for FEMA reimbursement for Hurricane Sandy. “That money is going into our equipment fund and we’re going to be purchasing some potentially life-saving equipment with it.”

Busching said the department will purchase a thermal energy camera that can see through smoke and picks up heat sources, to help locate someone trapped in a fire.

The department will also purchase an updated electrocardiogram (EKG) monitor/defibrillator.

“All of this was at no cost to the village whatsoever,” Busching said. “The $60,000 was for time that the volunteers put in, so there was no outlay from the village at all. This is almost strictly, if you want to call it, profit, and we’re going to be profiting as citizens for the equipment we’re going to purchase.”