The Ontario government is giving area fire departments more than $401,000 for safety upgrades, helping in particular to ward off the ever-present threat of firefighter cancer.
Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes MPP Steve Clark on Monday joined a large crowd of area fire officials, firefighters and mayors to announce this year’s beneficiaries of the province’s Fire Protection Grant program. A total of $401,404 will be divided among a dozen area fire departments.
“The great firefighters in our departments are truly the heroes,” said Clark, adding that, after last year’s round of grants, he “got a message loud and clear” from area fire chiefs that the grant is vital.
“It’s money well spent,” added Clark.
The Brockville Fire Department was among the recipients of last year’s round of Fire Protection Grant funding, using the money to buy an extractor, a piece of equipment that washes contaminants off firefighters’ gear.
This year, Clark noted, the province has doubled the Fire Protection Grant money available, from $10 million to $20 million, to be handed out based on applications. The money is to be spent on the purchase of equipment and supplies for cancer prevention, equipment to address lithium-ion battery fires, and infrastructure upgrades and modernization.
Brockville will get $36,223, for a variety of expenses including the purchase of gloves, hoods, bunker gear, an air exchange unit, and other air exchange work, as well as masonry and engineering.
The biggest chunk of this area’s funding, $64,840, goes to firefighters in the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands, which will use it to buy two quick response showers for decontamination, four extractors for decontaminating gear, and other items.
The second most significant amount, $62,004, goes to the Rideau Lakes fire department, with purchases there also including an extraction machine.
The other grant recipients are Athens ($16,000); Augusta Township ($33,080); Edwardsburgh Cardinal ($36,223); Elizabethtown-Kitley ($52,821); Front of Yonge ($14,527); Gananoque ($18,175); Merrickville-Wolford ($19,626); North Grenville ($32,000); and Prescott ($15,883). (Rounding issues create a $2 discrepancy with the grant total.)
Brockville Fire Chief Melanie Jones thanked Clark and his provincial colleagues for the latest funding, saying job-related cancers are the leading cause of death among firefighters.
While many of those occupational illnesses present after firefighters retire, “there’s been, unfortunately, more deaths of co-workers that are still on the job,” said Jones.
“We’re 23 per cent more likely to get cancer than the average person.”
The latest grant will help the local fire department work on its decontamination procedures, and provide more personal protective equipment, said the chief.
Augusta Fire Chief Rob Bowman said the money will help his firefighters get their equipment back in service cleaner and faster, reducing their exposure to carcinogens.
“Especially current fires, modern-day fires, with the new plastics … they really attach to our bunker gear and can get into our skin; of course we’re sweating underneath our gear, so it makes the route of entry to our skin much easier” said Bowman.
“We’ve got to get equipment that can prevent that from happening.”
Rideau Lakes Fire Chief Gene Richardson added that, years ago, firefighters would build their own racks to hold their own equipment, “made out of plywood that doesn’t breathe.”
With this money, added Richardson, all four Rideau Lakes stations will have extractors, the specialized washing machines that remove contaminants from the gear, while new drying racks will also improve the process.
Augusta Township Mayor Jeff Shaver said his and other local municipalities along Highway 401 have their own reason to worry about firefighter safety.
“The ones along the 401 do a lot of vehicle fires,” said Shaver. “That, you don’t know what’s travelling on the 401.”
“We got to make sure they’re kept safe with the proper equipment.”