RFD gets $50K grant for new equipment

Thanks to a grant, the Russellville Fire Department will soon be even better equipped to continue keeping Russellville safe.

In the Russellville City Council Meeting Sept. 6, the council accepted a grant award letter from the Department of Homeland Security for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant in the amount of $49,523.80, with a 5 percent match from the city in the amount of $2,476.20.

A $2,358.28 consulting fee goes to JMCM.

“This grant is for extrication equipment,” said Russellville fire marshal Justin Green. He explained it’s not just the tools for cutting cars but also for struts, devices that help stabilize vehicles that are on their sides or upside-down.

“Air bags to raise vehicles up were also included in this grant,” added Green, “but the prices were from November, and we’re starting to look at extrication systems now.”

Green said RFD is pleased the mayor and council approved the grant, as well as for the authorization to pursue it to begin with.

“This will allow us to replace some older equipment,” Green said. “We’re still fully capable of performing everything we need to right now, but we didn’t want to get to a point where we had a system that was completely down.”