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ST. CLAIR SHORES — At its meeting on Nov. 18, the St. Clair Shores City Council approved the purchase of bunker gear for the city’s firefighters in a 6-0 vote.
Councilwoman Candice Rusie was excused for this meeting.
According to items attached to the meeting’s agenda, the state of Michigan allocated funds for fire departments to purchase a second set of National Fire Protection Association compliant turnout gear for each member.
“This allows for cleaning and rotation of gear to help prevent firefighter job-related cancers,” the background material indicated.
Fire Chief James Piper said the whole grant process started in late spring and they received the official notice sometime in August or September.
“This has been through some hard work through the state, firefighter union and working with the governor’s office and congressional offices to get this funding,” Piper said.
Piper said the bunker gear is the specialized suit firefighters wear to do their job.
“When they think firefighter in their gear, that’s what we’re talking about,” Piper said.
The suit is made out of three layers of material to protect firefighters from the heat. However, Piper said, it does not make them “fireproof.”
“We can’t actually play in flames, but we can just get a lot closer to the fire than we would even be able (to if) dressed like this,” Piper said.
Each firefighter receives two sets of gear so they can switch them out as needed. If one set gets dirty during a run, they have a second set to use for the rest of the day.
St. Clair Shores received an allocated $164,500 from the state which covers 81.5% of the purchase. The city must pay the other $37,341. The Fire Department also requested a budget amendment at the meeting to cover the cost. Piper said all firefighters already have two sets of gear. Purchasing new gear was already in their future plans.
“This money (from) the state, actually, thankfully enabled us to push that purchase up about a year or so,” Piper said. “We have that already in town. This is enabling us to get it a little bit quicker and get all new, another set of gear for our firefighters.”
The gear St. Clair Shores firefighters use, Piper said, is a higher quality, making it a bit more expensive than what the state had allocated. This is why the budget amendment was needed.
“Rather than spread that out over a year or so, we just asked for the budget amendment this year to make it all in one purchase,” Piper said.
At the time of the recording, Piper said they expected the new gear to arrive in around 90 days.
St. Clair Shores Fire Department Battalion Chief Chad Hyvonen presented the item at the council meeting.
Councilman Chris Vitale said after trying on the bunker gear, he had better appreciation for what it does. Hyvonen said the gear does a lot for them.
“It has to do a lot,” Hyvonen said. “It has to regulate the heat that we’re encountering in a fire. It has to keep our bodies cool when we’re not around. It has to protect us from cuts, it has to protect us from abrasions. We ask that gear to do a lot.”
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