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Peters Township loan helps firefighters buy new safety equipment

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 2 min read
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For the first time in a decade and a half, Peters Township Fire Department is buying new self-contained breathing apparatus equipment.

Township council voted unanimously Nov. 27 to approve a $300,000 loan toward the purchase. The price of the equipment from the Scott Safety Division of 3M Corp. is $339,024.

The five-year, interest-free loan will result in about $35,000 in savings, according to William Gaughan, assistant fire chief. He also is president of the Peters Township Volunteer Firemen’s Relief Association, a separate entity from the department that provide funds for the protection of the firefighters.

“If you think about it, our breathing apparatus is actually older than any of our front-line fire trucks and the oldest pieces of equipment we use,” he told council.

A loan is necessary because the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected a grant application filed by Peters, North Strabane, South Strabane, Washington and Canonsburg, the borough where Tim Solobay, state fire commissioner, lives.

“Regional grants for FEMA tend to get a high priority,” Gaughan said. “Of all the ones we’ve been turned down on and the ones we’ve gotten, this one actually I thought we had the best shot at, and it didn’t happen. We’re now the third department that’s replaced it on their own because we realize the grant’s not forthcoming.”

The fire department does receive money annually through the state’s tax on gross premiums paid by foreign fire insurance companies, an amount that has averaged $120,500 to $130,000 for Peters in the past few years.

“That’s earmarked specifically for things like training and equipment, and that’s what this falls under,” Gaughan explained.

The state also provides $15,000 to be used for capital improvements and debt relief.

“This is how we financed it, now 15 years ago, when we had a lot less money,” Gaughan said. “So we’re not worried about paying it back, because the money comes in from the state every year.”

Along with personal protective equipment, the purchase also entails spare air cylinders and a new compressor storage system to refill each breathing apparatus cylinder after its use.

“This is pretty much a national pricing. We’re working directly with the manufacturer,” Gaughan said about Scott Safety, which is based in North Carolina and has produced self-contained breathing apparatus products since 1945.

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