Boro EMS gets $45K in homeland security funds
Federal grant will be used to purchase protective equipment
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS - Tinton Falls EMS South received a $45,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant in October, the first of its kind to be awarded to an EMS unit in the borough.

The United States DHS Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) was awarded for protective clothing and equipment like reflective coats to be worn at night and other types of safety equipment that the volunteer squad, which takes most of its calls on nights and weekends, could not previously afford.

According to Joseph P. McGinty, associate with Birdsall Engineering, the borough engineering firm, while the grant includes "assistance to firefighters" in the title, it is also available to emergency medical services, fire departments

and unaffiliated medical service units.

"So, in other words, some towns have an

EMS that is part of

the fire department,

and in this case this

is an EMS independent

of the fire department

and it can apply on its own," said McGinty Nov. 21, adding that EMS South, located at 1 Volunteer Way, applied for the grant through an online application and no paperwork was involved.

"EMS had never won a grant like this before," said Councilman Brendan Tobin Nov. 20. "Other departments are looking at these grants in a whole different way now."

Tobin had recommended that the EMS apply for the grant, which is a program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enhance fire and EMS departments' ability to protect the public and fire service personnel from fire and related hazards, when he received word about it from Birdsall Engineering.

With the help of Birdsall, the former captain of EMS South, Mike Zorner, who no longer lives in Tinton Falls, applied for the grant in May.

"When they fill out the application, they have to provide certain information about the size of the group, annual budget, response area and equipment," said McGinty. "One of the important things about EMS South in Tinton Falls is that it serves in response to accidents on the Garden State Parkway among other places but that is of course one of its biggest responsibilities."

McGinty also said that there were two categories that applicants could apply under for the grant: one category being for the protective equipment, which the EMS South received, and the other being for new vehicles.

"Their request for money for vehicles is still pending inside the Department of Homeland Security," said McGinty.

According to DHS, from 2001 to 2006, the AFG provided $2.4 billion in grants to fire departments and first-responder organizations for response equipment, personal protective equipment, vehicles and fire prevention activities.

In 2007, the year to date AFG total is more than $233 million, which includes the Tinton Falls grant, according to FEMA spokeswoman Molly McPherson.

"Firefighters are among those on the front lines of our homeland security," said DHS Undersecretary for Preparedness George Foresman in a press release. "This program gets critically important resources for equipment and training to America's first responders and supports their continued service to our country."