In Central Coventry, an old advanced life support ambulance that runs around the clock has driven over two times its recommended mileage. A couple miles away, in West Warwick, some sections of the fire department’s hose system are over 20 years old. In Providence, firefighter breathing apparatuses that allow for safe breathing in hazardous environments are ready to be replaced.
This fall, more than $4.5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants will help fire departments and other first responder organizations across Rhode Island replace aging equipment and fund other upgrades. Funding was awarded through FEMA’s competitive Assistance to Firefighters Grant program.
Fire departments in Providence, Woonsocket, Coventry, West Warwick, Prudence Island, Lincoln and Newport, as well as the Rhode Island Fire Training Academy, were recipients of the grants. Providence received $1.85 million, the largest award among the recipients.
This year, the Central Coventry department received roughly $499,000 to replace the department’s advanced life support ambulance acquired in 2017, according to Central Coventry Chief Kevin Cady.
“Ideally, most departments try to replace a vehicle around 100,000 miles,” Cady said. “Our department is small and works on a very limited budget, so this truck here went to 255.”
When the ambulance is out of service for repairs, the district must use a reserve ambulance or borrow one from another department, Cady said.
Without the grant, Central Coventry would have needed to replace the roughly $500,000 ambulance on their own, Cady said. Its new ambulance, which will be funded by the grant, is expected to enter service by May 2027.
Like Central Coventry, West Warwick Fire Department has had to borrow equipment from other departments.
West Warwick Fire Chief Jeffrey Varone said much of the department’s hose system is 15 to 20 years old, with some sections exceeding 20 years in age. Although the department tests its hoses annually, sections are removed from service as they fail.
“We don’t have anything to replace it,” Varone said. “We are to the point now (where) we don’t have enough hose to have a reserve.”
The grant will also replace two aging cardiac monitors, which Varone hopes will last another seven to 10 years.
“We don’t have to worry as much about a failure, a hose failure, or what we’re going to do if sections don’t make it through a testing process,” he said.
The Providence Fire Department will use its award to replace firefighter breathing apparatuses and fund officer training, Kristy dosReis, chief public information officer for public safety for the City of Providence, wrote in an email to The Herald. She added nearly $1.5 million will go toward replacing the department’s self-contained breathing apparatuses, commonly known as Air-Paks, which will enter service in early 2027.
The remaining funding will support “supervisory training” for lieutenants, captains and chief officers, dosReis wrote.
“The most important impact is firefighter safety, which directly contributes to public safety,” dosReis wrote. “Replacing this equipment will help ensure Providence firefighters have dependable, up-to-date tools.”
Without the FEMA funding, the purchases and training would have potentially been delayed, as they “would have had to compete with other priorities within the City’s budget,” she added.
For departments seeking federal support, receiving an award is not guaranteed.
West Warwick applied in previous years unsuccessfully before receiving its current award. Varone described the application process as “very competitive.” He added that departments used grant-writing classes to develop stronger applications this year.
Cady emphasized the impact of the federal funding on smaller forces like Central Coventry. For “our little department, this is a big dollar figure for us,” he said.
