Breathing easy: Central Coast firefighters get federal grant for new equipment

Central Coast firefighters in desperate need of new equipment will get a nice boost from the federal government.

Salinas, Seaside and the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade currently use out-dated air packs, more than 10 years old, to help them breath in burning buildings.

Thanks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the three fire departments won’t be wasting any more money. The regional grant is worth more than $900,000.

“[The] fewer dollars that has to go [towards] buying those big ticket items, can be allocated for other services within the community.” said Brett Loomis, a Salinas battalion chief.

The same exact equipment will be divided among the three departments. Salinas and Seaside deal primarily with structure fires and Big Sur handles mostly wild land flames. But for Big Sur Volunteer Chief Martha Karstens, having new breathing equipment for structure and vehicle fires is a must.

“We we make everything last as long as we possibly can so the ones we have now are over 15 years old,” Karstens said.

With 22 new air packs on the way, Karstens has a separate FEMA grant out to complete the upgrade.

“The air station is almost $50,000 so that’s a lot of money for a small volunteer department to come up with,” she said.

Loomis said they hope to get the new air packs by the beginning of next year. Then they’ll train their firefighters, which could take anywhere from 60 to 90 days.