by Lyn MacLean 

BRAVO to the Franklin Fire Department’s grant committee, whose valiant efforts have certainly paid off for the town! This grant committee was established in 2017 and typically includes 10-12 Firefighters. The scope of work includes researching and completing grant applications to help offset the costs of updated equipment and specialized training. Aside from receiving funds, writing and applying for grants provide additional benefits to the staff that help build research, writing, project management, collaboration, and administrative skills.  

Recently, the town was awarded $594,654 from the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. Since the infancy of this specific federal AFGP grant established in 2019, Franklin has been awarded $1,714,084.00 in total, and over $2.9 million from ALL other various grants including the AFGP grants. That is a number the team should be very proud of!  

The most recent FEMA AFGP award will allow $200,000 of the grant funds to be utilized to purchase a complete replacement of all vehicle exhaust capture systems for both stations. The primary function of this system is to ensure all vehicle fumes from the exhaust will not stay in the public and living spaces within the buildings. The current systems were installed nearly 24 years ago in 2000. The old systems used a compressor to move the air through the hoses. A new and improved version is designed to be a magnetic system without a compressor. This new system design will significantly lower the number of service calls needed to maintain the compressors. Long term the magnetic systems will be much more cost effective to operate. This will save the town money with consistent repair costs over the years. 

The remaining nearly $400,000 will be used for specific department training for ALL fifty-eight firefighters on staff.  By mid-September, an additional three will be hired bringing the total staff to sixty-one.  Fire Chief James McLaughlin shared, “No matter how long a firefighter has been working with the town, the training is invaluable with all the new emerging technology”. 

The funds will be allocated for the following:

1. Hire an outside vendor to conduct the instruction on various subjects. 

2. Backfill pay to allow staff to get paid when training.  

3. Rope training:  Basic and advanced technical rescues.  Rope rescues can be used in emergencies like pulling a vehicle out of a ditch, a person falling into a well, or a fire search in a large building. 

4. Ladder vehicle training:  A new aerial ladder truck is arriving next spring. 

5. Electric car fire training:  Safe practices for extrication in an electric car with car batteries.  For electric vehicles, they learn auto manufacturing specifics that result in fire suppression efforts needing to be more strategic.  They need to understand how to cool down the car battery and know where the cables are if they need to cut the doors.

 Fire Chief James McLaughlin shared that he meets monthly to collaborate with other towns to see if they can apply for grants as a united front. For example, they just replaced all portable radios with a $632,000 grant, where they partnered with the town of Norfolk.