The Sunnyside Fire Department has been awarded a $170,000 FEMA grant to purchase new self-contained breathing apparatus for its personnel.
According to Fire Chief Kenny Anderson, the new equipment, 24 apparatus, will bring the department one step closer to meeting its safety needs.
“It brings us up to enter-operability,” he said.
Anderson is pleased with the federal grant, of which Sunnyside will have to match about $8,000.
“The whole FEMA program has been a real benefit to a lot of fire departments, especially with the way budgets are going. A lot of this stuff could never be done,” said Grandview Fire Chief Pat Mason when his department received a grant more than 10 years ago to meet its safety needs with the installation of a new exhaust system.