READY AND ABLE: Athens Fire receives needed equipment

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Earlier this year, Athens Fire Chief Al Hogan made a request to the City Council to OK the purchase of several new pieces of equipment essential to the department. The Council unanimously approved the purchase, which was in the department’s budget.

Athens Fire and Rescue recently received its new compressed air bottles, face masks, automated external defibrillators and other items. Hogan told The News Courier on Monday the equipment was expected to be in service by that evening.

“If we don’t have this stuff, we can’t go in,” Hogan said. “It’s a relief. Now we just need to make sure we get the items in service and make sure everyone is checked off on them. I think we got all that done today, so it should be on the trucks and working.”

Hogan said the compressed air bottles are SCBAs, or self-contained breathing apparatuses. Each of them includes a spare bottle that can be quickly connected to a downed firefighter to provide them with extra air if the need arises.

The need for new, updated AEDs spoke for itself after members of Station No. 1 used one of the devices during an emergency earlier this year. On May 3, firefighters responded to a call at a local business where an employee was experiencing a medical emergency. They found no pulse and used an AED to return the patient to a good heart rhythm before paramedics arrived to provide further medical aid.

Station No. 1 fireman Bobby Millsaps tried on his new face mask for the first time Tuesday. Fellow firefighter Jason Young helped Millsaps adjust his new gear.

Young said the reason the department needed the new SCBAs was the old units were at the end of their life cycle. He said they can only be certified for 10 years because they become unable to hold the correct air pressure over time.