Lisbon Fire Department Awarded FEMA Fire Assistance Grant

Fire Chief Sean Galipeau has received confirmation that the Lisbon Fire Department has been awarded a federal FEMA Fire Assistance Grant in the amount of $89,675. This grant has a 5% match, or $4,483, that the fire department is responsible for. The grant was awarded to upgrade non-compliant radios that will meet the new federal Narrow band requirements for the year 2011. The grant provides each seated position in every fire truck a portable radio for improving fire ground communications and safety. The department also received money to purchase radio communication headsets for each of the seated positions on the fire apparatus. This will allow the members to communicate and develop a plan of action prior to arriving at emergency incidents. Additional communication equipment included the purchase of thirty new pagers to alert the firefighters to calls.

The grant requires that the members of the department attend a National Incident Management program on Command and Control of fire incidents. This was included in the grant and is required as part of annual mandated training that must be received. The final part of the grant includes a new accountability system that will better assist the Incident Commander as to the location of the firefighters while operating at incidents. Currently the department uses a numbering system for each firefighter and the new system will identify the members by their names.

All of the funding is required by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This grant allowed the Fire Department to get the required training, equipment, and funds at a remarkable savings to the taxpayers. In the last five years the department’s staff has written over $365,000 worth of grants that have only improved the operation and safety of the department. The cost to us, the taxpayer, for these grants has been only 5% or roughly $18,000.