Diane Valden is reporting for The Columbia Paper three fire departments in Columbia County will share in a half-million-dollar grant to support the purchase of essential breathing equipment. U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced September 3, that more than $5 million in federal funding has been awarded to 36 fire departments, municipalities and ambulance corps statewide “to bolster New York’s firefighter force and to provide essential Personal Protective Equipment or PPE, for firefighters responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.” When Ghent Volunteer Fire Company #1 applied for the 2020 AFG COVID-19 Supplemental Program, it was decided to take a regional approach for shared services, enlisting both the Chatham and Niverville fire departments as co-applicants and the strategy paid off. The three companies will receive a total of nearly $496,000 in funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA grant, which is intended to help firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, and more. “We need air packs desperately,” said Ghent Fire Chief Anthony Brahm. Both Chatham and Niverville will need them by next year. "...This funding will allow our first responders to have the PPE they need to be able to do their job safely and allow everyone to go home to their families after the emergency incident,” Brahm said in a press release. The chief thanked FEMA, the firefighters grant program, U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado and all others involved, for their support of the program and for their help in securing the funding. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.