By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Isabella Volunteer Fire and Rescue has received a grant from FEMA to purchase $80,000 worth of equipment.

Fire Chief Brent Conway said the grant had been applied for in Fall 2017.

The funds were used to purchase 12 self-contained breathing apparatuses, more commonly called air packs, and 24 containers of air.

“We use them in every fire in order to go into the smoky environment to protect our respiratory systems,” Conway said.

Conway said he was grateful the department received the grant.

“There is no way we could replace our packs with these new up-to-date packs all at one time with our funding,” Conway said.

He said it was important to replace all of the packs at once so that the department did not have a mixture of old and new equipment.

IVFR receives funding from the Chilton County Commission through the fire tax.

The new equipment was purchased from Emergency Equipment Professionals and received on Dec. 18. The company held a training with the department on how to use and clean the equipment. The air packs are very similar to what the department had been using. However, additional training will be held to ensure all of the volunteers are comfortable using the equipment.

Conway said the grant allows the department to have “the best possible protection” when responding to a fire.

There are 20 volunteer firefighters in the department.