Wilmette Fire Department Receives $72K Grant
The funds will replace aging defibrillators.
The Wilmette Fire Department 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.”
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.”
Richard Schulte
6:33 am on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
"It comes at a time right now when every penny counts.”"
We send our tax dollars to Washington. Then Washington makes us "jump through hoops" to see if we can get some of those tax dollars back in the form of grants. Of course, we need to pay the bureaucrats who review and award the grants (the handling fee). Sounds like a pretty inefficient way of funding local fire departments.
Why not lower the amount of taxes sent to Washington and increase local taxes and then cut out the "middle man"? If we did that, the Wilmette Fire Department wouldn't have to beg FEMA for funding and we'd have a lot more funds for local gov't to buy what it actually needs.
If we did that Washington wouldn't be able to play Santa Claus with our money.
FEMA deserves no credit for this-in fact, FEMA is ripping us off by using such an inefficient method of funding local fire departments. This is just another example of bureauracy at its finest. Screwed once again.