BCAT News

Fire Chief Andrew Connerty is pleased to report that the Burlington Fire Department received a $14,101 grant from the Department of Fire Services Fiscal Year 2024 Firefighter Safety Equipment Grant Program.

Fire departments across Massachusetts were invited to apply to the Firefighter Safety Equipment Grant program, which provides reimbursement on purchases of 135 different types of eligible equipment. Eligible items include hoses and nozzles, turnout gear, ballistic protective equipment, gear washers and dryers, thermal imaging cameras, hand tools and extrication equipment, communications resources, hazardous gas meters, and more. In many cases, the purchase of this equipment will help departments attain compliance with Occupational Safety & Health Administration or National Fire Protection Association safety standards. This is the fourth year that funding has been awarded through the program.

The Burlington Fire Department will use the funding to purchase firefighter turnout gear.

“We appreciate the grant as the Burlington Fire Department strives to comply with the NFPA 1971 Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting,” said Chief Connerty. “It gets very expensive to outfit new firefighters and to also replace old, worn, non-compliant turnout gear that our firefighters currently have. We have been fortunate to be awarded this grant over the last few years and have used those past grant awards to purchase turnout gear and a thermal imaging camera.”