Tuscaloosa County Commission Approves Nearly $23K For New VFD Equipment

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa County Commission on Wednesday approved a total allocation of $22,760 in community development funding to be parceled out equally across four volunteer fire departments in the northern part of the county.

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District 1 Commissioner Stan Acker, whose district includes the four departments, made the motion to provide $5,690 each to the Yellow Creek VFD, Mayfield VFD and Montgomery VFD, which will be put toward the purchase of new thermal imaging cameras and MSA Altair gas monitors.

The thermal imagining cameras can allow firefighters to identify hot spots from outside of a building when battling a structure fire, while gas monitor technology can help first responders identify levels of dangerous gases that the naked eye or other senses may fail to recognize.

What's more, the Mount Olive Volunteer Fire Department received $5,690 for a gas monitor and other equipment needs separate from thermal cameras.

As Patch previously reported, Acker said in December that the funding was decided on after conversations with the fire chiefs from each community, who expressed the need for the new technology to help protect its first responders and save more lives.

In the previous round of funding, the same allocations of $5,690 were approved and awarded to Carroll's Creek VFD, Coker VFD, Sipsey Valley VFD, Fosters VFD and the Samantha VFD.

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