'Like winning the lottery': Kimball Township Fire Dept. gets $122K grant

The Kimball Township Fire Department will soon be getting new radios thanks to a federal grant.

The fire department received an $122,338 Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency last week. Fire Chief Edmund Gratz said this is a win for the community and fire department.

“This is like winning the lottery,” he said. “It’s good to have dedicated stakeholders on our department who understand the importance of these things.”

They applied for the grant in January 2022. The money will be used to replace all of the radios, including the portable and in-truck models.

Kimball Township Fire Department currently has 35 working radios and six are out of service.

Sgt. Eduardo Schoen was a part of the grant writing committee. He said the fire department has been applying for this grant for around five years.

“This is a coveted grant that we’ve been trying to get for years,” Schoen said.

Schoen said there are a lot of grants fire departments can apply for. The FEMA grant provides the most funding.

Gratz said the grant will give the fire department the means to effectively communicate. Once a radio is deemed out of service, it can no longer be repaired. New radios typically range from $3,500 to $4,500 each.

“I firmly believe that every firefighter should have a radio with them,” Gratz said.

New changes may be coming to the local radio system that requires new radios and there will a push for encrypting radio transmissions. Gratz said the current radios at the fire department do not support the upcoming changes.

He said the fire department is not trying to hide information from the public. It will still release information as needed.

“Encryption will help us with some of our operations,” Gratz said. “It will help with some the privacy concerns.”

Contact McKenna Golat at mgolat@gannett.com or (810) 292-0122.