SJFD awarded FEMA grant: Firefighter Mike Zlotek shows off the department’s new extrication equipment.
The St. Johns Fire Department has new extrication equipment thanks to a grant from the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters grant program. Grant Coordinator April Wilson wrote the grant request to FEMA, and the project was approved last month.
The purpose of the FEMA grant program is to protect the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related hazards.
The current primary set of extrication equipment that the fire department was using is 16 years old and is not as effective in cutting the newer metals that cars are made of now.
Thanks also goes to Captain Mark Wineland of the Fire Department for his research toward the new equipment for this grant.