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EAST LIVERPOOL - City council was unanimous in accepting a grant in excess of $181,000 for the fire department.
Council authorized Fire Chief Antony Cumo to accept a Homeland Security grant for $181,200 during its special meeting Sept. 29.
The grant, which has a five percent match for the which the city will be responsible, will provide $9,060 toward equipment purchase.
With the Fiscal Year 2025 Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Department of Homeland Security, Cumo will be able to replace all the fire department's hoses due to most of the department's hoses being outdated, some of it purchased in 2000 and some as far back as sometime the 1980s, and starting to deteriorate.
Cumo said being able to purchase 18,000 feet of new hoses is significant for the department, especially now as they are starting to notice pin holes in some of the hoses during training exercises. The package Cumo plans to purchase will use up $129,804 of the grant money.
The $60,456 remainder of the grant will be used to purchase an appliance/nozzle package to use with the hoses.
Between the $182,000 grant award and the $9,060 matching funds from the city, hoses and nozzles combined add up to $190,260 in new gear for the fire department.
Cumo said he expects to receive the new hoses and nozzles somewhere around June.
Council members also approved Cumo to accept a second grant for the fire department from Norfolk Southern in the amount of $10,000 with no matching funds needed, which Cumo will use to purchase an additional six new Level A Haz-Mat suits.
Cumo noted that the department's current suits are 10 years old and the type they have are not made anymore.
Cumo also said that the 10 suits the department has were recently tested and one of the suits failed.
The Norfolk Southern grant is in addition to a grant the department recently received to purchase new Haz-Mat suits. With the combined total of both grants, the department will be able to order 12 suits.