MONTAGUE — Firefighting isn’t like it’s portrayed in the movies.
No one runs rogue into a burning building or has perfect vision inside the structure. And the air? One breath of it could kill you. That’s what air packs are for.
An air pack includes a tank of compressed air equipped with a breathing mask to enable firefighters to breath while working inside burning buildings. The problem is, they are quite expensive. So a group of local fire departments joined forces and purchased 69 of them (with all necessary accessories) through a $442,197 FEMA grant.
The Leverett, Montague Center, Shutesbury, New Salem and Wendell fire departments applied for a regional operations and safety grant and will split a required 5 percent match of $22,109.
Joe Cuneo, the chief for the New Salem and Wendell departments, said air packs are critical pieces of personal protective equipment, or PPE.
“We cannot go in a building or any sort of … life-threatening atmosphere without an air pack. It allows us to go into a situation where you would normally not be able to and breath a certain amount of air for a certain amount of time,” Cuneo said last month sitting inside the Montague Center Fire Department, the fiduciary of the grant, with recently retired Chief John Greene. “We’re are basically getting, in a sense, what is the latest and greatest technology that’s available.”
Greene, who was in fire service for 38 years, said the departments received 69 air packs, costing $4,716 each, with each firefighter getting a two tanks, which run $713 apiece. Cuneo said the new equipment tallied $464,306 once the costs of battery chargers, necessary software and other equipment were factored in.
Cuneo also said the new air packs include electronic accountability systems that allow chiefs to monitor from a safe location the quantity of air remaining in a firefighter’s tank.
“I can sit in my command vehicle and say, ‘OK, Firefighter X has only 10 minutes of air left,’” he said, picking up an imaginary phone. “‘Hello, Firefighter X, why are you still in the building?’ That kind of thing.”
Cuneo, who has been in fire service since 1999, added the air packs will be useful for each department’s rapid intervention team members, who rush in to save downed firefighters.
Greene said his firefighters went through three hours of training with the new equipment, which was then put immediately into service. He said the former air packs were outdated; some were manufactured in the mid- to late-1990s.
“There have been a ton of advancements since we got the other air packs,” Greene said.
He said the new packs have been inspected, tested and certified, and they meet National Fire Protection Association standards. The manufacturer is MSA, based in Cranberry Township, Pa.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 257. On Twitter: @DomenicPoli