WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Emergency responders all over the state were recently granted thousands of dollars from the office of the State Fire Commissioner.
It's an annual grant program that gives career and volunteer fire departments an opportunity to apply for extra money to go toward things like equipment and training.
The Office of the State Fire Commission has awarded millions of dollars in annual grant money to volunteer and career fire departments throughout the state
More than $1 million was awarded to fire and EMS departments in Luzerne County, including the Wilkes-Barre Fire Department.
"This money to us is just extremely helpful. They are out of the ordinary things that we can afford to do," said Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney.
The Wilkes-Barre Fire Department received close to $14,000 to upgrade the emergency alarm system in the department and for rechargeable battery packs.
"For our self-contained breathing apparatus, after every fire and twice a year, we have to replace the batteries in the self-contained breathing apparatus. Each one takes six, so we're getting rechargeable battery packs that are going to save a substantial amount of money," said Chief Delaney.
Kingston's fire department received a little more than $13,000 this year. Kingston Fire Chief Frank Guido says it costs about $4,000 for a full set of gear for a firefighter. This state grant, paired with a different federal grant, will allow the department to buy a second full set of gear for each career firefighter in the department.
"The two sets of gear allows them, if they come back from an incident with all the carcinogens and cancers out there, it allows them to wash their gear in our commercial washer, dry it, and have another backup set that will be brand new and ready for them if, God forbid, we have another fire," said Chief Guido.
Chief Guido says in this line of work, every little bit helps.
"We have a joke here that you add 'fire' to it, the price automatically goes up. Like a chainsaw, if it says 'fire-related,' it goes from $300 to $3000."