Vashon Island Fire & Rescue was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for new equipment.

The grant, for nearly $302,000, will  enable the department to replace 42 self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) — air packs that firefighters wear when they enter a structure fire — and 18 additional face masks, according to a department press release.

Such equipment needs to be replaced every 10 years, said interim acting fire chief George Brown, who noted that the old equipment at the department had reached that limit and no longer met current safety standards.

“Had this grant award not been received, we faced the prospect of finding additional revenue in order to purchase this critical piece of safety equipment,” he said.

Each SCBA costs nearly $7,000,  and additional masks are important so that firefighters do not have to share masks, a practice Brown called unsanitary and unsafe.

The total cost of the new equipment was $317,003. The grant provided all but 5 percent of that cost, leaving the district to provide just $15,095, the news release indicated.

Brown noted that the grant was written by firefighter/EMT Ben Davidson and EMT Brigitte Schran Brown. He expressed thanks to them for the work they put into it and his appreciation for Washington’s elected officials, who have supported providing funds to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which annually provides $340 million to fire departments throughout the United States for safety equipment, fire apparatus and training.