News

The Millville Volunteer Fire Company is celebrating the recent receipt of a $72,542 grant from the Department of Homeland Security – Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. Past Chief Graig Temple applied for the loan in 2006 during his term in office. The grant has been used to purchase twenty-three Motorola XTS 5000 portable radios, batteries, and chargers. This purchase will bring the Millville Volunteer Fire Company in line with recommendations from the National Fire Protection Association, which sets standards for Firefighter Safety. Currently, the Millville Volunteer Fire Company has seventeen portable radios available to personnel outfitted in self-contained breathing apparatus for emergency operations. This could equate to one portable radio for up to four firefighters in a crew, which could force the personnel to operate in sub-standard firefighting conditions. Each firefighter who is operating in an environment that could be potentially harmful or fatal should have the ability to communicate with each other, as well as with the officers in the command structure. The purchase of the additional twenty-three portable radios allows the officers and all crew members the capability to be continually updated about the conditions of an emergency, which could even include a crew needing assistance to get out of a dangerous or life-threatening situation. By receiving the grant, the firefighters of the Millville Volunteer Fire Company are enhancing their ability to be equipped to do their job appropriately with the tools necessary to remain safe. The total cost for the twenty-three Motorola XTS 5000 portable radios, batteries, and chargers was $76,300, of which the Millville Volunteer Fire Company had to contribute the $3,818 difference. Past Chief Temple projected it would have taken the Company up to six years at its current state of capital improvements and yearly fixed expenses to complete the purchase of the twenty-three radios without the aid of the grant. “DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS PROUDLY SERVING OUR COMMUNITY”