Rockland Firefighters' Secure Another AFG Grant 

The Rockland Firefighters, IAFF Local 1602 is pleased to announce that it has secured a US Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant for the Rockland Fire Department. The grant is for $135,620 and will be used to provide the members of the Rockland Fire Department with essential survival training and equipment that due to the Town’s financial problems has been impossible to obtain. Also included in this grant is a breathing air compressor to fill the breathing air bottles that allow us to go into hazardous environments. Previously firefighters would have to travel to a neighboring community to fill these bottles, reducing the shift coverage while they were out of town.

This is the third federal grant in the last six years that the Union has been able to secure for the fire department. Previous grants were, in 2003, for a new fire engine, and in 2004, for new firefighter turn-out gear, a Plymovent vehicle exhaust system, upgrades to air-packs and a washer-extractor system to clean and prolong the life of the new turn-out gear.

In addition to the Federal grants, firefighters have also been successful in receiving a number of state firefighting equipment grants. These grants have been used to provide every firefighter with a portable radio, buy training equipment and ice rescue equipment as well as various tools that the department could not afford to purchase without help.

These grants were written by union members, on their own time, with no financial compensation from the Town, in an attempt to better the department and help the Town through its financial difficulties. To date the Rockland Firefighters, IAFF Local 1602 has been able to secure over $550,000 dollars in grants to the Town and Fire Department.