DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines Fire Department will soon be adding increased health and safety measures to its stations following grants received from two separate programs, the City of Des Moines announced Friday.
The first of the grants, the Community Betterment Grant from Prairie Meadows, comes in at a sum of $32,327. The grant will be used to purchase a Solo Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) Decon Washer to provide better decontamination of breathing apparatuses along with other firefighting equipment reducing firefighters' exposure to contaminants and chemicals.
The unit will be placed at the DMFD administrative building which the city says will make it available to all 11 of the city's stations as well as other metro area fire stations.
The second grant the department received was through the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) which totaled $507,375. This larger grant will be used to install Source Capture Exhaust Systems (SCES) at nine of the city's fire stations. The exhaust systems utilize tubing to direct harmful fumes from the tailpipes of emergency vehicles away from the vehicle bay and living quarters.
With over 63,000 engine starts to respond to emergency calls annually the city said, SCES will add increased protection for firefighters.
The city adds that because of Station 11's newness, it already has an exhaust system while Station 4's is planned as its under construction. This means that in addition to the other nine, all of the city's stations will soon be equipped.
"These grants provide an opportunity to make our fire stations safer for our most valuable resource – our firefighters,” Des Moines Fire Chief John TeKippe said. “These measures represent another step forward as we work to improve safety in the working environment of our firefighters."
