CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Cheshire Volunteer Fire Department is getting $30,075 to purchase automated external defibrillators and chest compression devices. 

 

The funding comes from the latest round of the Fiscal 2022 Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program.

 

The award was announced on Friday by U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey and is part of the more than $1 million in funding going to four Massachusetts fire departments. 

 

"Massachusetts firefighters and emergency medical service providers are on the frontlines of protecting our friends, families, and neighbors," said Markey in a statement. "These investments provide our fire departments and emergency medical services with the equipment these heroes need to serve as a lifeline for the communities they serve."

 

The federal Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program has provided funding to local fire departments and emergency responders for more than 20 years. The grants allow for training and the purchase of such needed equipment as AEDs, protective gear and emergency vehicles. 

 

The program, under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has so far distributed 1,645 grants totaling $238.8 million for fiscal 2022, including $27,166 to the Dalton Fire District and $159,533 to the town of Sandisfield, both for operations and safety. 

 

Also awarded in this round was the bulk of the funding, $921,943, for Ashland Fire Department to acquire firefighter breathing apparatuses and RIT packs as a regional award also supporting the Hopkinton and the Southborough fire departments; $47,619 to the South County EMS in Deerfield, Sunderland and Whatley to acquire cardiac monitors; and, $25,523 to the Westport Fire Department to acquire vehicle extrication equipment.

 

Subsequent rounds of fiscal 2022 funding remain forthcoming.