New upgrades coming to Westville Fire Protection District

WESTVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — After years of applying for grants, the Westville Fire Protection District is now ready to upgrade its equipment.

Last week, they were awarded more than $190,000 from FEMA. As Westville Fire Chief Mark Ames is preparing to find some new equipment, he views it’s time to get rid of the old and bring in the new.

“The grant that we received is to replace our air packs,” Mark Ames, the Westville Fire Chief, said. “They’re coming on to about 18 years old.”

The FEMA grant was worth more than $190,000 and the department will match five percent of that, bringing the total to more than $200,000.

They’ll have enough to supply new tanks, new packs and new masks. Ames said replacements are recommended after 15 years.

Assistant Fire Chief Matt Shuey says they’ve been lucky the equipment hasn’t broke down while they’ve been out in the field.

“Basically, we’ve never had a failure while we are on scene during an incident, but we have had a couple of failures when we were in the house training,” Shuey said.

Both Shuey and Ames say their goal is to gather at least 20 new air systems which will hold more than normal, but they still need more things at the station.

“What we’re doing is systematically going through our programs and trying to update,” Ames said.

This Friday, Westville Fire Protection District will be hosting a fish fry fundraiser for the community at the St. Mary’s Church from 4-7 p-m. Tickets range from $10 – 14. At the event, they’ll talk about their next surprise project.

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