Dewey Fire Department Receives New Gear With The Help Of A Rural Economic Action Plan Grant

The Dewey Fire Department recently received new gear to help them fire fires. With the help of a Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) grant, the Dewey Fire Department received $50,000 in funding to purchase the new structure gear for all 17 firefighters in the department.

Dewey Fire chief, Justin Miller, said that the fire department got the grant last December and was one of 36 projects in the state granted the funding. Miller said that the structure gear, which is the gear firefighters wear when fighting fires, is very expensive and that the department would not have been able to purchase the new gear without the grant.

"If it weren't for a grant, our guys would be in subpar gear, expired gear. So being able to receive these grants sure helps rural fire departments to get the protection that they need to suppress fires," Miller said.

The gear that the fire department had been using was coming up on 10 years of use. Miller said that it was time to replace the old gear because the NFPA standard is to replace gear every 10 years.

Miller said the new gear will help the Dewey Fire Department in a variety of new ways.

"Their structure gear is getting better and better as studies and technology come out for the protection in the gear. With our new gear here, there are a lot more movements that we can get out of our gear, the luminescence of the gear allows us to be seen a lot better than the old gear," Miller said.

Miller said that these REAP grants can be a good resource for rural communities looking to fund big projects.