WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin (both D-Md.) today announced the Salisbury Fire Department in Wicomico County had been awarded $157,500 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFGP). Senator Mikulski is on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the AFGP and fights each year to increase its federal funding. Senator Cardin is a member of the Budget Committee, which each year sets priorities for funding to federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
“I know how important this funding is to Maryland communities and especially Salisbury. Often it’s the difference between life and death. First responders protect our homes and communities, and the federal government has a responsibility to protect them by providing them with the tools they need to do their jobs safer and smarter,” Senator Mikulski said. “Every day when our first responders report for duty, they don’t know what they will face. That’s why I fight every year for the equipment, training, and staffing our protectors and communities deserve.”
Senator Cardin said, “First responders have always been on the front lines, keeping our families and our neighborhoods safe from harm. I thank these brave men and women for their continuing service and sense of duty to our community. I am proud to support federal investment through local grants like this, which is essential to ensure our community heroes have the equipment and training they need to do their jobs safely and efficiently.”
The Salisbury Fire Department will use the funds to purchase a hazardous materials response trailer. This is the first award for the Department. For more information, please contact Deputy Chief Richard Hoppes at 410-548-3120.
AFGP grants fund firefighting equipment, personal protection equipment, training, firefighting vehicles, firefighter/first responder safety projects, and staffing recruitment and retention. Since 2001, Wicomico County fire departments and emergency medical services have been awarded nearly $1.2 million in AFGP funding.
Rachel MacKnight
Communications Director
Office of U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski
202-228-1122
19 comments:
yeh , they need a new pool table
and some more exercise equipment.
We certainly wouldn't want these
guys to do without anything.
Have these two political figures
bumped their heads!
"For more information, please contact Deputy Chief Richard Hoppes at 410-548-3120.
"
Yes Mayor Ireton this is the same one you promoted to acting Fire Chief, the same one that has been raping your tax payers for several years now. Mr. Ireton you need to get a reality check and fast.
More money from wealthy Montgomery County taxpayers.
Take it, and use it well.
Congratulations SFD!
This might not be as absurd if the government wasn't 10 trillion dollars in debt. I doubt that the japanease and the chineese will be as genorous when they own this country.
Its this a trailer you pull behind one of the pickup trucks? Kind of expensive. How many people are active on the hazmat team? I recall reading only 1 is active or properly trained. Parsonsburg and the county could really use this.
1:04 pm
No this is a tractor drawn trailer
congrats sfd
LOL... Parsonsburg needs a lot more than that to fix them. Maybe they shouldnt have wasted all that money on their useless special ops trailer.
To 3:07pm
You have a good point there. What other team would want to work with the Parsonsburg Special Ops Team given the lack of training of their officers and leadership.
The former lieutenant told the chief that he was resigning due to the fact that he wanted to complete his paramedic testing, and needed to concentrate on that. Everyone in the company knows that the real reason for his resignation was the fact that he could no longer work with Ryan Whittington. The lieutenant had put a lot of time and effort into the team including building, equipping, and maintaining the trailer. He also has spent many hours in training over the last 3 years in order to help run the team. He is highly trained. I think that the last straw with him was that he was told by Chief White that it was his fault that the team was not yet on line. It seems strange that the lieutenant would have the blame placed on him instead of it being placed on the captain. Since when in the fire service does the second in command take the blame for a problem that was caused by the first in command. The lieutenant was always the one who was around taking care of things while Whittington was running around between Felton and Ocean City trying to be important. Whittington never showed up for meetings or drills. The lieutenant tried to fix these problems with Whittington for over a year, but Chief White would always turn it around on him. All I can say is that they lost a damn good man due to the good old boy system between Chief White and Whittington.
After much pressure from the Chief, Whittington was forced to choose a team of officers to get the team on line. Here are his choices that were approved by Chief White:
Captain - Ryan Whittington
I am at a loss for words here. His training records have never been made available.
Administrative Lieutenant/Training Officer - Darryl See
His training is FF1, EMT, Technical Rope Rescue. Although he has much training in the private sector, he is not MFRI certified to be training firefighters. Also, his attitude and West Virginia mentality are going to get someone killed.
Operational Lieutenant - Bryan Chandler
Bryan is very highly trained as a firefighter. He is also very highly trained in Haz-Mat and would really be an asset to any Haz-Mat team. He is the ONLY person who is qualified to be an officer on this team.
Safety Officer - Jeff Willis
Jeff is a probationary member and an EMT. He has a lot of training in private industry and works at a corperate level for Perdue Farms in the safety department. He has no training or experience as a firefighter.
A lot of members at Parsonsburg have given a lot of time and effort towards this team in training, drills, etc. It would be a shame for this team to fail due to the leadership that has been approved by Chief White.
It sure is a shame that Chief White refuses to fix the REAL problems. I understand that the members there have had about enough of his attitude and poor decisions, and are working on a plan to vote him out this year in favor of someone who would be willing to break up the good old boy system that has been in place there for a while now.
Bring on the replies.
who buys the tractor and for how much
Anonymous said...
1:04 pm
No this is a tractor drawn trailer
congrats sfd
1:44 PM
Yes it is "tractor" drawn. The bigger question is how many people will be able to drive that tractor?
Joe
They are not the only one who has received AFG money on the shore.
The Princess Anne VFC has received just about $102,000.00 along with Marion for new SCBA.
It is the intent of the Princess Anne VFC to implement the new tools to provide a more up to date piece of equipment and to take the old tools and place them on Tower505.They will now have the capability of placing two rescues in service. Kind of strange no press releases from neither of these two representatives, but then again we are not Salisbury Fire Department.
Requires a Class A license. John Coleman was one of the last with a Class A in the department, Chief See had one. Not sure maybe 1 or 2 that have a Class A. More Mandatory training coming to a FD near you.
With all this government money, don't come asking for donations from me anymore. I pay enough in tax dollars so if Obama is going to fund everything in the country, he can certainly fund the fire departments. Just ask for bail out money and he will be glad to send you a check.
New schools.. new firehouses..
shrines comissioned with our
Capital..the left loves to overstate thier own importance when it comes to their own comfort and vanity..
so they got a nugget of cash from the State? the real plan ..they intend on turning that into millions of our budget..so they can have the best of everything
11:47 ". I pay enough in tax dollars so if Obama is going to fund everything in the country"
I don't think that is true. Wicomico County still takes in a lot more money than is collected by taxes by the State or the Feds.
Does the Fire Department give any thing up in exchange for the money? Does it lose control of its assets at a certain point (ie. during declaration of martial law, or declaration of emergency, etc). It is my understanding the part of the goals of Dept Homeland Security is to gain control of local assets. Once the localities are brought under the umbrella of the Feds, they can then be controlled by the Feds. Does anyone know if the Salisbury Fire Department has to give up any rights or assets in order to get this money?
HAHAHA not running calls on ems nor fire and now Whittington wants the PBVFD to pay for him to get his Paramedic. all the other fire departments that he is associated with he never asked but where he is an officer in PBVFD he asked and oh yes since he is such great friends with white it will happen the department will pay for it which is a shame because of other people in the department that are running ambulance calls and want to get there paramedic title have to pay their way. Wow is parsonsburg the next SFD??? keep an eye on it. OH BTW Joe you should check on PBVFD's Other members that hold an officer title and look at their training it would scare you that unqualified people are holding positions and making judgment calls without proper training to do so.
I have waited for so long for this information to become public without myself being the bearer of bad news. After being involved with this department and one of the most active members for over a decade, I am now ashamed to be a part of what was once a reputable department. It is solely the decisions made by Chief Steve White that have put these untrained and most importantly inexperienced officers in place. The cold hard truth is that the current officers all lack in one field or another. Meaning the person may have ten years in the fire service but could not pass a ninth grade reading test and have no credible training other than firefighter I. The other side is the person may have one year of active membership in the fire service as a whole, no other fire department experience and now hold a line officer position. Why? Because Steve feels comfortable with people that will not make decisions without his say so, therefore lacking in competency in mediating an emergency. Steve you better keep your cell phone on they may need to call you if a life saving decision has to be made. And then you have members with a wealth of knowledge and training and no experience. There are so many variables when considering which of your personal should be leaders. I can quote Steve White on several occasions when he attempts to back his decisions on why he chose someone with a year in the department or someone who has absolutely no training. His words are always the same, I chose this person because he or she has good people skills. Well guess what Einstein, good people skills are not what saves lives in this line of work. Honestly we have several qualified, over ten or so members that a have at least Fire I & II, Hazmat ops or higher, MFRI Pumps, Rescue Tech or equivalent, and EMT or Paramedic and a minimum of five years in the field experience. Meaning these trained personal have actually applied there training and done so proficiently. Unfortunately only one of these members have been appointed. That person would be Lt. J. Tyler. Other than that we are working under the guidance of people that are far from ready to make decisions concerning life and property and most importantly leading the ones under there command into an inferno. I challenge any person from the public to ask the chief why these people are where they are and how they got there and do not except any round about answer. Ask for training records, ask yourself one question. If my family was involved in an automobile accident and were trapped in the car would the person in charge have the training to mediate the situation. Dont get me wrong, I like to gamble but not with my loved ones. We could think like the Deputy Chief Mark Rickards. Who responded with this when asked the same question. " I would hope someone else shows up with that training" Thats right lets hope that someone shows up with the knowledge of what to do instead of being prepared. The truth is the trained individuals who are officer material and have been overlooked or removed from said office are turning there backs when the alarm sounds. It takes time to become cold hearted, to ignore the call for help after doing it for so long. But when your opinions and ideas no longer count and the feeling of being unwanted out weighs your decision to answer the call, it is time for change. Someone has to probe deeper into the actuality of this situation. As a young man in the fire service the battle of pride between Parsonsburg and Salisbury was ongoing. After much thought and realization I have come to understand the difference between pride and ignorance. Salisbury has undergone many changes and experienced a lot of growing pains over the past decade. However one of the best outcomes was this, all line officers must meet or exceed the minimum requirements set forth by the department. Unfortunately Parsonsburg has no such requirements and any mutual aid company assisting them or requesting there help may very well get a one year unseasoned firefighter as the commanding officer. How can anyone after reading this 100% factual disposition trust calling on the Parsonsburg Steve White Fire Department, and to those that call Steve White friend remember this. Steve White could sell ice to Eskimos. He is a very convincing man and when he speaks to those without fire department knowledge he could sell the world to them. Ask a few past deputy and assistant chiefs who have since left and moved on to other departments in the county there reasoning for leaving. The truth needs to be known to the public. Now lets talk about another topic that only a few are informed. The paid Paramedic/Chief that appoints his own committee that oversees his benefits and pay scale. How can no one see the conflict of interest here, or is it such a thing that most are scared to discuss it. Lets think about this for a second, if you deny him a raise or grant one that is less than expected and later in the year ask him for something what might be the outcome? I know for a fact with the current administration he was given a six thousand dollar raise two years ago. Thank you tax payers for the new addition on my home. And the fact that Steve approves and disapproves the points put in by each individual member that enables that person to vote at the end of the year, on thats right- his position as chief. Would it surprise you to know points have been passed for certain individuals involving medical training that pertains to both ems and nursing however these individuals are no longer ems providers and were lacking in that area for points needed to vote. Lets put it all on the line, lets discuss a member who barely skated by with enough points to stay in and then voted in as president. To my recollection she signed a legal binding agreement that required her to complete and pass The WOR-WIC Community Colleges paramedic program and then render her services as a paramedic including direct patient care and transport to the hospital to the citizens of the community for no less than three years and a minimum of thirty six calls per year for that period. Notices have been sent for collection to those members who did not fulfill their obligation following the completion or failure of the program. My question is what steps have been taken towards this individual. Are we messing with the untouchables here? I thought the federal government broke up the last of the mafia in the late 90's. I can assure you she did not transport 36 patients to the hospital over the entire three year period. Show me the money!! I hope that this inside view of the Parsonsburg Fire Dept. was informative, though lacking the other side of the story Im sure the individuals mentioned would love to answer these questions. And to those companies running with the burg be careful, trust only the ones that you know because the chances are the new guys are wearing the white shield and riding the front seat. If you would like to know more just ask, Im sure I got an answer, ENOUGH SAID!!
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