CALHOUN COUNTY, S.C. — When there's an emergency, local firefighters are on the frontlines to help respond, but smaller departments may need extra help.
The St. Matthews Fire Department is receiving a V-Safe grant from the state fire association. The grant is eligible for departments that are at least 50% volunteer.
“It’s a yearly grant that small departments like us truly depend on because of our budgets being so low. We thrive on these grants," said fire chief Greg Sandlin.
The St. Matthews Fire Department is made up of primarily volunteers.
"The entire nation depends on the volunteer fire service. It's a very important and integral part of the fire service. We couldn't do what we do without the volunteers," he said.
The grant will allow the department to upgrade its trucks from having three inch supply lines to four, allowing them to use more water at the scene of a fire, faster. It will be applied to two trucks in the fleet with one getting 1000 feet of four inch supply line with another line being 500 feet.
“We don’t want people to lose everything so if we can get in there with enough water and put it out, we can save half of the house. That’s half of the property, half of the memories," said Sandlin.
The department is expecting to receive about $13,500 in funding through this grant later this month.
“Most of the time we have a fire we get people to bring tankers to supply us water. With this upgrade, we won’t need tankers to come help us out. We’ll have all the water we need.”