Calif. fire departments awarded AFG grants

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
Congressional Documents and Publications

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that the City of Glendale and the City of Monterey Park have been awarded $1,142,400 and $92,370 respectively under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG). The funds are administered by the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency along with the U.S. Fire Administration.

"Keeping our first responders on the job and well-equipped is critical to protecting our communities," Rep. Schiff said. "This important funding will ease budget burdens by allowing the Glendale and Monterey Park fire departments to purchase critical equipment they would not otherwise be able to afford. This funding will improve communications among our first responders, reduce emergency response times and enhance patient outcomes."

The City of Glendale will use the funding to replace aging and obsolete equipment, some of which is more than 12 years old. Specifically, it will be used to purchase 12 lead EKG monitor/defibrillators with Capnography and Carbon Monoxide monitoring capability.

"The defibrillators purchased with this grant will have the ability to transmit patient data to notify receiving hospitals of an acute patient, allowing them to activate their surgical teams, which in turn can shorten a patient's treatment time by 30 to 60 minutes -- critical moments that often determine a successful outcome for the patient," said Glendale Fire Chief Harold Scoggins. "Additionally, the new defibrillators will have the ability to monitor Carbon Monoxide levels in patients and firefighters - an invaluable tool that will save patient lives, as well as the lives of our firefighters, because thousands of deathsare attributed to this colorless, odorless gas every year."

The funding for the Monterey Park Fire Department will be used to purchase portable VHF radios. According to acting Fire Chief Jim Birrell, the fire department's current inventory is more than 10 years old, incapable of being upgraded to meet the FCC's requirements, and are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

"We are very grateful and appreciative of Congressman Schiff, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the members of the fire agencies' panel review for approving Monterey Park's request for funding to purchase portable VHF radios," Birrell said. "Without the VHF radios, the Fire Department will lose communication with the Police Department, as well as other emergency response and public safety agencies on the VHF system, so these radios are essential to our personnel involved in mutual aid calls and California Strike team deployments."

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