On August 16th, 2021, the Lafayette Township Fire Protection District was awarded the 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG). The award allotted $204,266.67 in federal funding to the department. A condition of the grant was for the department to contribute five percent of the amount awarded from non-federal funds for a total budget of $214,480.
Thirty MSA SCBA packs, 60 SCBA bottles, 30 SCBA facepieces, and 14 additional SCBA facepieces were purchased and are now in service at both departments and on the front line apparatus. With the new SCBA packs, firefighters will have the option to “buddy breath” if one person has an emergency and is low on air or to share air with a “quick fill” option.
Other options included with the SCBA are communications via BlueTooth with capable two-way radios. Helping make firefighters easier to understand with built-in microphones in the regulators of the packs.
The SCBA’s also offer a fifteen-year replacement warranty on all parts, including the batteries that operate them.
Lafayette Twp Fire has applied for this grant for the past four years to replace the aging and out-of-date self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) throughout the fleet. That also includes the SCBA for Greenville Township Fire Protection District, which LTFPD provides fire protection under contract with the Greenville Township Fire Protection Districts Board of Fire Trustees.
