WEST DUMMERSTON — The West Dummerston Volunteer Fire Department has received some substantial upgrades the past few years: a bigger station in Dummerston Center, a new truck for fighting brush fires and, next year, the arrival of a state-of-the-art fire engine.
But it takes more than that to fight fires. A good supply of hoses and nozzles is crucial. According to a news release, the department's's hoses and nozzles are between 20 and 50 years old, and they “are beyond [their] useful life."
Replacing the equipment will cost $70,400, and that represents nearly 75 percent of the department's annual operating budget, according to Assistant Chief Richard Cogliano. “This is something we could not have funded on our own,” he added.
To help pay for a new set of hoses and nozzles, the department recently received an Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The funding will cover $67,048 and requires a local match of 5 percent, or $3,352.
“The match [...] will come from our operational budget. We have a line item in our budget to cover grant expenses,” Cogliano said.
“Old and worn hoses and nozzles break, leak, and can fail under the extreme pressures (up to 200 pounds per square inch) used in firefighting. Having one leak or break on a fire ground can delay our time in putting out a fire or worse,” Cogliano said.
The firefighters routinely test the lines and nozzles, Cogliano said, and when they fail, “we have to either replace it or go without. Just this summer alone, we had three nozzles and several lengths of hose fail. A few of our trucks have shorter lengths of hose than we normally carry because of hose that has failed.”
He compared it to “getting a new computer to replace an aging one - its use doesn't really change but you notice a difference. Having new equipment takes concern of failure nearly out of the picture. It allows us to safely do the job we are trained to do with the right tools.”
This isn't the first time Cogliano - who wrote this grant application - has successfully secured federal funding for the department.
They received two Assistance to Firefighters Grants last year for thermal imaging cameras and a new Brush Truck, and three prior awards in 2003, 2009, and 2010 to replace personal protective equipment and self-contained breathing apparatus. The cumulative total of these grants is $354,184.
“The Assistance to Firefighters grants [...] come out annually and there are workshops held in the fall to provide info on how to apply as well as any changes in the guidance. I've worked with these grants since 2003 and worked with FEMA quite a bit on the best practices. Vermont is lucky as Senators Sanders and Leahy are huge proponents of these grants and have worked to secure funding at the national level every year,” Cogliano said.
Dummerston Selectboard Chair Zeke Goodband praised the efforts of the firefighters.
“As if responding to house fires, traffic accidents, medical emergencies and brush fires wasn't enough; the [department's] grant writing success over the past few years has been very impressive,” Goodband said.
“The voters at Town Meeting approve funds to support the WDVFD every year, but the Department's fund raising has allowed them to purchase additional equipment for not only the enhanced safety of firefighters but for the safety of residents of our Town and neighboring towns,” he added.
Goodband had a suggestion about the retired equipment: “I wonder if they might consider gifting some of these vintage nozzles to the Dummerston Historical Society.”