Ada Township firefighters will get new self-contained breathing equipment after the board approved a request from Fire Chief David Murray to spend $131,468 for the purchase.
The equipment will be bought from 5 Alarm and is piggybacked on a similar purchase by the City of Wyoming.
Technically, the current Ada SCBA equipment had one more year of usability, according to Murray, but the savings of nearly $20,000 realized by using the pricing available through the joint purchase with Wyoming made the time to purchase desirable.
The department currently has 18 apparatus packs and 36 air bottles. The bottles will reach their "usable life" of 15 years in November of 2017. In addition, "with the numerous upgrades and safety measures implemented, the packs themselves are outdated from current models and standards," Murray told the board.
The new equipment will include a voice amplification system so firefighters can hear each other during an emergency. Another upgrade is thermal imaging equipment built in as opposed to the camera that now has to be carried when needed.