WASHINGTON, D.C. – A grant from FEMA will bring more than $289,000 to the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department.
U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin announced the grant Wednesday
Marshall DeMeritt, emergency medical services chief for the fire department, told WEPM News that means about $300,000 total when paired with a 10% match.
He said the money, paid through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, will be put towards the purchase of 19 piston compression vices.
“An automated CPR device in more layman’s terms,” DeMeritt told WEPM News. “It basically takes the manpower out of the extremely manpower intensive cardiac arrest scenario.”
DeMeritt said the grant was written for the entire county and so will benefit all of the departments.
“Every ambulance in the county will have one on it and four additional will go on chase vehicles that follow ambulances around to help out.”
DeMeritt said Lt. Daniel Henderson, who wrote the grant, has now brought in more than $2 million in grant money for the county.
FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program provides essential equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources used to protect local communities.