Ashfield And Shelburne Share $196,000 Grant To Fire Departments

By JULIE CUNNINGHAM

(Franklin County, MA) The towns of Shelburne and Ashfield are sharing a  regional award of $196,000 for their fire departments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, Assistance to Firefighters Grants, or AFG. The grants will go to replacing aging air packs that are desperately in need of replacement, according to an online statement made by the Shelburne Falls Fire Department. The grant money will help with the funding to replace 28 of these air packs, which are life saving tools for the departments.

“This is a huge weight of our shoulders,  literally and figuratively speaking. All of our SCBA packs would have been out of service and unusable next year. Ashfield Fire will use our share of this grant, $56,000 to replace all of our SCBA air packs. Thank you to all that participated and made this opportunity happen for our two departments,” said the Ashfield Fire Depatment in a statement.