Washington County's justices of the peace on Monday endorsed a request for $5.4 million to buy self-contained breathing apparatus for firefighters and other first responders. The Quorum Court's County Services Committee sent a request for $5.4 million in federal covid-19 aid money on equipment for rural fire departments in the county on to the county's Finance and Budget Committee. The ordinance appropriating the money for new self-contained breathing apparatus for the Rural Fire Association was presented to the County Services Committee in October and then tabled until the December meeting. According to the ordinance, most of the breathing apparatus now in use are more than 20 years old and do not meet current safety standards.