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Tuesday December 16, 2008 Edition
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Addison Volunteer Fire Department Receives Grant for Critical Equipment

From left: Tyler Van Spanje, Marine Underwriting Manager; Todd Reed, President and First Assistant Chief; Chris Mulliss, Chief; Geoff Nelson; Randy Stearns, Second Assistant Chief.
photo provided
From left: Tyler Van Spanje, Marine Underwriting Manager; Todd Reed, President and First Assistant Chief; Chris Mulliss, Chief; Geoff Nelson; Randy Stearns, Second Assistant Chief.

photo provided

Tuesday December 16, 2008

    The Addison Volunteer Fire Department was the recipient of a grant for protective firefighting clothing, pagers and water rescue suits.  The grant, totaling $19,582, was awarded by Fireman's Fund Insurance Company's Heritage Program.  The Heritage Program is a national program to provide grants for firefighter equipment, training and community education resources.  All members were present on Monday night to accept the grant check from Fireman's Fund representatives Tyler Van Spanje and Geoff Nelson.  This was the first Heritage grant for the state of Vermont.

    Heritage grants are awarded quarterly, based on nominations by Fireman's Fund's employees and evaluated by employee "Bucket Brigade" teams.  Nelson noted that the grants are awarded based on need and merit, and that the evaluation team was not informed that a fellow employee was on the Addison Department.  He encouraged other departments to apply for their own grants.  Additional information may be found at www.firemansfund.com/heritage  Grants are also awarded through Fireman's Fund's Independent insurance agent partners.  Since 2004 Fireman's Fund has awarded more than $20 million to over 1,100 fire service organizations and fire departments nationwide.

    Proceeds from the grant will be used by Addison to purchase 10 sets of turn out gear, the protective firefighting clothing that allows firefighters to safely enter potentially dangerous areas during search and other firefighting operations.  Additional funds will be used to replace and upgrade pagers, and to purchase water rescue suits.  Addison's territory includes portions of Lake Champlain and the Dead Creek Wildlife area, with an average of 1-2 water rescues a year.

    Funding and staffing challenges have left many volunteer and career fire departments without adequate resources.  A 2006 National Fire Protection Association study found that 60 percent of fire departments do not have enough self contained breathing apparatus units to equip all firefighters on a shift to safely enter a burning building.  65 percent of fire departments do not have enough basic portable radios to equip all responders on a shift.   Many volunteer fire departments also need additional members, particularly for daytime responses.  A 2008 study by the Insurance Service Organization found that more than half (54%) of chiefs surveyed said their departments "always or almost always" call on neighboring departments to respond to the initial alarm for a structure fire.


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