MADISON TOWNSHIP — The Madison Township Fire Department will be able to purchase new turnout gear and thermal imaging cameras thanks to recent grants.
Fire Chief Ken Justus told township trustees at their meeting on Monday that he received news of multiple grant awards during the month of July.
Those grants include:
- $8,000 from TC Energy for replacement turnout gear
- $5,200 from Firelands Electric People Fund for handheld thermal imaging cameras and chargers
- $300 from the State of Ohio for EMS training and equipment
The thermal imaging cameras will allow firefighters to see through smoke and monitor the fire’s spread.
“These cameras are small enough to fit in the pockets of our turnout gear,” Justus said.
Justus also said he ordered rapid intervention equipment with a $19,000 grant from the Leary Firefighter Foundation awarded in November.
Trustees also announced that road department supervisor Jimmy Baker is eligible for different retirement benefits after retiring on July 31 and being rehired on Aug. 1.
Trustee Cathy Swank said this rehire will save the township 8.5% of Baker’s retirement benefits.
Also in Monday’s meeting:
— Justus thanked the Mansfield Eagles Club for its $3,500 donation to the Madison Firefighters Association. He said this donation will go toward bulletproof vests and helmets.
— Justus said the fire department has measured driveways longer than 500 feet in the township and began marking them to warn responders of houses that need longer hoses in the case of a fire.
— Trustee chair Tom Craft said the Ohio Auditor’s Association will complete a free performance audit after talking with each of the trustees and the fiscal officer on Aug. 15.
— Trustee Jim Houser said contractors have started frame work on the township hall that was damaged in an April storm. He said workers have also started interior painting and ordered shingles for the roof.
— Swank said the road department has blade patched Stewart, Hoover, Ridge, Ford, Piper and Sites roads, and Apple Lane.
