NPFD applying for FEMA grant

The New Prague City Council authorized the city’s Fire Department to submit an Assistance to Firefighters Grant application, which is through the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). Fire Chief Jeremy Tikalsky and Lieutenant #1 Greg Pint presented the proposal at the council’s Tuesday, Jan. 5, meeting.

The grant is for more than $216,000 and will be used to obtain an assortment of equipment.

Originally the department had planned to wait to apply for grants, but since federal funding was available the department decided to apply. Pint said it was a way for the fire department to get its name out there. If they didn’t succeed this year, they would try again next year and the year following. He noted they were able to purchase equipment in 2009 through a similar grant and that had taken three years of applications.

The goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant is to meet the fire fighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations. It has helped fire departments and first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources.

The city’s fire department is asking for 22 SCBA harnesses, 30 SCBA face masks and other equipment to work with the face masks, including air cylinders and tanks and a new air compressor to replace the current one, which is about 20 years old.

It is a matching grant with a 5 percent match required for communities with populations under 20,000 people. The match would be $9,815, which the department proposes be split between the city and the New Prague Rural Fire Association at about $4,907 each.

Mayor Chuck Nickolay asked if this was an all or nothing application. Pint said....

To see more on this story pick up the January 14, 2016 print edition of The New Prague Times.