TRUMBULL COUNTY Bazetta, Cortland fire departments receive funds to buy equipment

Some of the money will be used for a thermal-imaging camera.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BAZETTA -- Federal money will be used to buy updated equipment for Bazetta and Cortland fire departments.
The 33-member Bazetta Township department has received a $131,085 grant from the 2003 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The funds will be used to buy 14 new breathing apparatus, 14 spare oxygen bottles, a thermal-imaging camera and two ventilation systems to remove exhaust from the firetrucks.
The fire department in neighboring Cortland also got funds.
The city will use its $43,763 to buy 10 complete sets of firefighting gear, six air packs and one thermal-imaging camera.
Expensive items
Capt. David Rea and firefighter Todd Price, who wrote Cortland's grant, said equipment, such as thermal-imaging cameras, are commonly used in fire service but are very expensive.
Thermal-imaging cameras allow firefighters to see in low visibility situations cause by smoke or debris.
"Our community owes a big thanks to FEMA. It would have taken years to obtain all this important equipment without their help," Price said.
Price and Rea noted their department benefited from FEMA money last year as well -- $24,000 to upgrade its radio system.
"Our old radio system was a disaster waiting to happen, we were very thankful for the 2002 grant," Rea said.
The local awards are part of $750 million being distributed to more than 7,000 fire departments nationwide this year.