Fire depts. getting new gear

Two Terrebonne Parish fire departments recently received Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency grants totaling almost $100,000 for operation and safety gear.

The Coteau Volunteer Fire Department of Houma accepted $66,400, and the Bourg Volunteer Fire Department got $29,925 from the Assistance to Firefighters Grants program.

The Coteau station will use its funds to purchase radio equipment, which will be interoperable with other first-responder agencies. The department is moving from the high-band, 154-megahertz radios it has used since its inception in 1980 to the 700-megahertz radios used by the parish and law enforcement.

“It’ll allow us to close the gap on some of our radio communications issues,” said Russell DiSalvo, 16-year Coteau fire chief and 25-year firefighter. “We’ll be able to talk with the sheriff’s office, state police, OEP (office of emergency preparedness).”

DiSalvo said radio communications was the biggest problem his department faced during last year’s hurricanes. Instead of being able to speak directly, information had to be relayed between agencies while they tried to coordinate rescue and recovery efforts.

“If we need law enforcement, we have to call dispatch and dispatch has to contact them,” he said. “We can eliminate that and be on the same channel to access them.”

The Coteau department has already begun purchasing approximately 25 radios and making infrastructure changes at its fire station, according to DiSalvo. The station put up new antennas and is going through different frequency ranges.

The Bourg department intends to utilize its money to purchase a breathing air compressor, cascade system and a commercial washer for cleaning the department’s turnout gear.

The air compressor and cascade system are used to refill the department’s 36 50-liter storage cylinders that supply air to the firefighters’ self-contained breathing apparatus, Bourg VFD Fire Chief Arlen Charpentier said.

Charpentier has served as fire chief of the Bourg department for 26 years, and as a firefighter for 30.

“It will be a big help,” he said of the new equipment. “Instead of traveling to Houma to refill our bottles, we can refill them on site.”

“After a fire, a bottle only lasts about 30 minutes,” Charpentier explained. “So, depending on the size of the fire, we may go through a bunch.”

The commercial washer removes carbon and carbon byproducts out of contaminated turnout gear, the fire chief said. The lifespan of the gear depends on the number of structural fires they are put through.

“We don’t have that many, so our gear will last five to eight years because we take care of it,” Charpentier said. “Gear lasts a lot longer if it’s kept clean. Our gear costs roughly $2,000 a set.”

The Grant Programs Directorate and the U.S. Fire Administration administer the AFG program.

It is designed to enable local fire departments and emergency medical services organizations to receive training, conduct first responder health and safety programs and buy equipment and response vehicles.

The grants significantly boosted both departments’ budgets, which are generated by a tax levied on residents within their respective fire districts.

The Bourg department has a $120,000 annual budget with one paid firefighter and about 20 volunteers.

Couteau is a 20-member, all-volunteer department with a $60,000 annual budget.

Last year, Bourg firefighters responded to 240 calls – about 10 of which were structural fires. Emergency medical services comprised 80 percent of the department’s calls, according to Charpentier. The rest were for rescues or car accidents.

DiSalvo said the Coteau station gets about 100 calls for assistance a year. The ratio between calls for medical services and fire is nearly even, he said; however, the agency receives few structural fires.

“Mostly we deal with cooking fires and we respond to a lot of grass and trash fires,” DiSalvo said.

Coteau Volunteer Fire Department Chief Russell DiSalvo receives a call on one of the department’s new 700-megahertz radios. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF