NEWTON, Kan. —Newton City Manager Kelly McElroy announced that three Harvey County fire/EMS departments have been awarded a federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant worth nearly half a million dollars to purchase radio equipment.
Newton Fire/EMS will receive $370,000, Halstead Fire/EMS will receive $71,000 and Sedgwick Fire Department will receive $54,000 as part of the regional grant.
Each handheld radio costs about $7,500 today. At Newton Fire/EMS, firefighters have been carrying aging and broken mobile radios, many of which the department purchased used almost 10 years ago. This grant will allow the department to purchase 50 new handheld radios along with 10 new apparatus radios and three base station radios.
Newton Deputy Chief Cory Lehman wrote the grant last year in conjunction with Sedgwick Chief Zane Hansen and Halstead Chief Jim VanSchaick (now retired).
This is the third-largest grant Newton Fire/EMS has ever received, with the largest being $2.9 million for the construction of Station 3 in 2010, and a SAFER grant worth $650,000 for additional personnel in 2009.