BRANCH COUNTY, MI (WTVB) – Thanks to a $7,500 grant from the Leary Foundation, Branch County fire departments now have a prop to help them if they need to make a forced entry during a fire.
According to a press release issued on Monday by the Branch County Fire Chiefs Council, the Coldwater Fire Department submitted a grant in February of last year to the Foundation for a forcible entry training prop to be used by all the Branch County Fire Departments.
The Coldwater Fire Department was notified last November they were awarded the grant.
Firefighters from Branch County traveled to New York two weeks ago to pick the prop up and received two hours of personalized training with the owner and inventor who is a retired New York firefighter.
The Leary Firefighters Foundation was established in 2000 by actor Denis Leary in response to a tragic fire in Worcester, Massachusetts that claimed the lives of his cousin, a childhood friend, and four other firefighters.
Bronson Fire Chief Scott Wilber says the prop was just recently used in the Branch County Firefighter I and II academy. The academy is the initial training for new firefighters which consists of 243 hours of lecture and hands-on training.
There are eleven students enrolled. The Branch County Fire Chief’s Council plans on sponsoring a firefighter academy every other year.
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