FEMA grant funds protective gear for firefighters, ambulance crews in Western Pa.

Eighteen fire departments and emergency medical service organizations in Westmoreland County will receive personal protective equipment through funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

All told, the FEMA grant of nearly $875,000, coordinated by the Nanty Glo Fire Department in Cambria County, will provide protective gear to 67 first-response agencies in 14 counties in Central and Western Pennsylvania.

With the rise in demand during the covid-19 pandemic, prices have nearly doubled for some of the protective equipment, which is needed to safely treat and transport emergency victims who might be infected with the coronavirus.

The program will pair the FEMA grant, announced Tuesday, with local matching funds to buy thousands of N-95 and surgical masks, face shields, foot covers, medical gowns, hazardous materials coveralls and nitrile examination gloves.

Operating as the Comprehensive Operation and Vision Against Infectious Diseases (COVID) Task Force, the regional emergency responders hope suppliers of the protective equipment will be more responsive to group purchases rather than separate orders from individual fire companies and ambulance services.

Westmoreland fire departments and other agencies participating in the program include Bolivar, Claridge, Crabtree, Derry Township, Dryridge, Fairfield Township, Level Green, Manor, Murrysville Medic One, Mutual, New Kensington Fire and EMS, Paintertown, Penn Township EMS, Pleasant Unity, Rostraver-West Newton EMS, Sewickley Township Community EMS, South Greensburg and Trauger.

One Allegheny County fire department, Option Independent of Baldwin, also will receive equipment through the grant.