Reading Department Awarded Grant For Firefighter Equipment

READING, MA — The Reading Fire Department has been awarded a $14,110.76 Firefighter Safety Equipment Grant through the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.

House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North Reading), State Representative Richard M. Haggerty (D-Woburn), State Senator Jason Lewis (D-Winchester), and Reading Fire Chief Gregory Burns joined Gov. Maura Healey's administration to announce the award.

A total of $5 million in grant funding is being distributed to 321 fire departments across Massachusetts as reimbursement for the purchase of critical safety gear and equipment.

Reading’s grant award will be used to support the fire department’s purchase of portable radio support equipment, firefighter gear, and individual SCBA facepieces.

“We are pleased to have been awarded the grant funding,” Burns said in a statement. “Our request was for funding to equip four replacement firefighters. We need to equip our new personnel with protective clothing that meets N.F.P.A. 1971 standards and properly fits. Specifically, we requested to purchase 4 structural helmets with shields, 4 SCBA facepieces, 3 structural turnout coats, 3 structural turnout pants and suspenders, 4 leather structural boots, 4 nomex hoods, and 4 leather structural gloves.”

The Firefighter Safety Equipment Grants are part of a five-year, $25 million state bond authorization designed to improve fire safety across the state. This marks the fourth year funding has been awarded to the Commonwealth’s fire departments under this competitive grant program.