Crime & Safety
Wilmette Fire Department Receives $72K Grant
The funds will replace aging defibrillators.
The is one of seven Illinois departments to receive funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help them respond to fires and other emergencies.
The $72,900 Wilmette received in December will be used to replace cardiac monitor defibrillator equipment carried on the department’s advanced life support ambulances, said Deputy Chief Mike McGreal.
“About five years ago the company that made them was bought out and the new company only agreed to services them for five years,” McGreal said. “We’re running towards the ends of that and we can’t find parts for them. We wind up with used parts.”
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The funds are provided through the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. Departments across the country apply for the competitive grants which reward money for equipment, facility modifications, new fire trucks and training.
“We apply to every program we can,” McGreal said. “We’ve been very fortunate in the past to get funding through that program. It comes at a time right now when every penny counts.”
