The Smithboro Fire Department recently received two grants that have allowed them to make updates to their firefighting equipment.
“We received one from Southwestern Electric Co-Op,” Fire Chief Dale Deverick told WGEL. “They give out money to different agencies on occasion to purchase different material. We received one of their grants and we have purchased a gas meter detector. It detects four different types of gases. In the previous we just had a small, cheaper one we used. This one allows us to upgrade and do a little wider range of detection to protect people in our district.”
Deverick said they also received a partial grant from the state of Illinois. Previously the department had received the maximum grant amount of $26,000 but received only $9,000 this year. Deverick said they used that grant money to purchase five new self-contained breathing apparatuses, bringing their total number up to eight.
