Frederick County Receives FEMA Grant

It will be used to improve safety for first responders who work at vehicle crash scenes.Frederick, Md (KM) A grant totaling $392,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been awarded to The  Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services. Chief Tom Coe says the money will be used To train over 1100 first responders on how to safely and quickly clear an accident scene. They include treating patients at the scene, transporting them to the hospital and extricating them from vehicles. “All those things happen simultaneously,” he says “So all of our focus initially goes to life safety issues: providing medical treatment to the significant critically injured, extricating folks from cars, mitigating hazardous materials incidents on the highways,” he says.Chief Coe says fire and rescue crews usually  undergo this type of training, but this grant will make it possible for them to receive additional training. “This training that we’re providing will reinforce it, and update it for those who have not gotten it in a while to ensure that we have a consistent educational platform for our service,” he says.He notes that sometimes working a vehicle crash incident on a highway can be dangerous to first responders. “Over the last ten years, Frederick County has incurred six major vehicle accidents on the highway where civilian cars have struck our emergency response vehicles. Additionally, one incident where a vehicle struck multiple of our responders, causing significant traumatic injury,” says Chief Coe.This new training will probably start in the fall, and the county has 12 months to complete it,  Chief Coe says.In addition to the training, Coe says the grant will also pay for equipment such as cones and traffic signs.He also gives a lot of credit to Maryland’s Congressional Delegation for securing these funds.By Kevin McManus