Narragansett, Cranston receive $410K for training, equipment

RHODE ISLAND'S SENATORS, Sheldon Whitehouse, left, and Jack F. Reed, joined U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin in announcing the awarding of $410,250 in grants to the Cranston and Narragansett fire departments. The money is ed to be used for training and to acquire a rescue and specialized services boat.
RHODE ISLAND'S SENATORS, Sheldon Whitehouse, left, and Jack F. Reed, joined U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin in announcing the awarding of $410,250 in grants to the Cranston and Narragansett fire departments. The money is ed to be used for training and to acquire a rescue and specialized services boat.

CRANSTON – Two Rhode Island fire departments will receive significant grants from the federal Port Security Grant Program to improve training procedures and provide equipment that will help protect the Port of Galilee and 23 square-miles of waterways in South County.

The Cranston Fire Department will receive $26,250 to train firefighters to become credentialed instructors with the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators’ Boat Operations and Training Program. The department will use the grant to train a group of in-house instructors in the national standards, allowing the department to reduce costs and improve training for future firefighters.

The town of Narragansett will receive $24,000 for the same training, and $360,000 to acquire a fire, rescue and specialized services boat that is equipped to detect and respond to incidents involving chemicals, biological substances, and nuclear or explosive materials. The Narragansett Fire Department, the southernmost full-service fire department in the state, is responsible for Narragansett Bay, Block Island Sound and the Port of Galilee.

The grants were announced Thursday by U.S. Sens. Jack F. Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, and U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin.

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“Our first responders need to be ready to deal with a multitude of public threats, from hurricanes to fires to hazardous spills or man-made disasters, and this federal funding will help provide the training and resources they need to be effective,” Reed said, in a prepared statement.

The grants were made possible through the fiscal 2015 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, approved by the U.S. Congress in February, which provided a total of $100 million in port security funds.

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