On Friday, March 29th, 2013 the Fire Company received official notification that we will be receiving Federal funding assistance through a grant application which was filed by our neighbors at the Christiana Fire Company to aid in the purchase of new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, or SCBA, for our firefighters.

This grant was filed as a regional collaboration with several of our mutual aid agencies in the surrounding areas.

The grant was hosted by the Christiana Fire Company and was submitted by our own Battalion Chief and grant writer John Sly in July 2012 to the Federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. A total of $400,000 was awarded to be distributed amongst the five fire companies involved in the application.

Our current SCBA is more than 13 years old and will be replaced on all of our front line fire and rescue apparatus. The SCBA carried on board our ambulances and Command vehicles were purchased with the assistance of other state and local grants in recent years and will remain in service.

Much of the current SCBA equipment we are utilizing sustained excessive wear due to usage during the Coatesville area arson spree of 2007-2009.

Westwood will be receiving 18 new SCBA units to place in service on Engine 44-5, Rescue 44, and Tac 44 at a total cost of $80,000. The Fire Company will be responsible for 10%, or $8,000 of a cost share match and will receive $72,000 in Federal funds. The cost of just one SCBA is approximately $5,000.

This award represents the 8th Federal grant award afforded to our organization through the AFG program. The total amount of equipment and vehicle funding we have received from this program alone now surpasses $575,000.

The Westwood Fire Company has also filed for grant funding assistance through the Federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and we continue to await the disposition of that application to address other needs for our Company.

In 2012, nearly 12,000 applications were submitted for funding and only an estimated 15% of those will actually receive funding. We are very fortunate to receive an award through this highly competitive program.

The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is administered by the department's Directorate for Preparedness through its Office of Grants and Training in cooperation with the United States Fire Administration, also a division of the Preparedness Directorate.

Our thanks goes out to Chief Reimold and the members of the Christiana Fire Company for including us on this group effort. This award will allow our firefighters to serve the community with safe equipment.