Alpharetta firefighters need new washing machines, but ordinary household appliances simply won’t do. These heavy-duty machines are for washing turnout gear, an item so bulky only one firefighter’s gear can be handled at a time.
“This is currently very time-consuming when 10 to 12 firefighters must wash their gear,” staff said in a report to the City Council. Yet washing is necessary, given the cancer-causing agents generated by a fire. Currently, the Fire Department has only two of the machines.
The council approved seeking $24,091 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. The grant will require a 10 percent city match. Proceeds would go toward buying four new washing machines for Fire Stations 82, 84, 85 and 86 and one replacement machine for Station 83.
The city no longer has a full-time grants administrator, so for this application it is trying out a professional grants writing agency, staff said. Grantmasters Inc. will charge the city $2,600 for its services.
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