Portsmouth Fire Department Lands Grant for New Equipment

The Portsmouth Fire Department has received a $142,000 grant to replace the department’s inventory of self-contained breathing apparatuses, which are more than 10-years-old.

The grant, announced Thursday, is through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, which is designed to “enhance the ability of first responders to protect the health and safety of the public from fire and related hazards,” said Portsmouth Dept. Fire Chief Michael P. O’Brien.

The new SCBA are a major upgrade for the department, which will be more reliable and include a tracking system that will help a lost or trapped firefighter be rescued.

The SCBA will also include an extra air cylinder and new mask for each firefighter.

This is the second major AFG grant that Portsmouth has received for the fire department thanks to the efforts of the state’s elected federal legislators and town officials.

Specifically, O’Brien said Congressman David Cicilline and Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse “all threw their support behind this application.”

Also deserving credit: the Portsmouth Town Council, which authorized the effort to secure the grants; the fire department’s responders, who collected supporting information and used in-house grant writers to complete the competitive grant application; and the town’s finance department, which gave extra support in administering past grants and gathered financial data for the latest application.

“The residents of Portsmouth are the true winners in today’s announcement,” O’Brien said. “Our residents are the benefactors of a team effort by multiple town employees and the Town’s elected officials at the municipal and federal levels. The Portsmouth Fire Department’s mission capability will improve with this equipment purchase, strengthening public safety at minimal cost to our taxpayers.”