FEMA Funds Fire Department Message Boards

The Inver Grove Heights Fire Department recently purchased two traffic message boards with funds from a $190,065 competitive federal grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighter Grant program.

The message boards will allow the department to notify and instruct drivers during an emergency from the safety of their vehicles.

“Responder safety is number one,” said Judy Thill, fire chief of the IGHFD.

Driver impatience and confusion can put firefighters at risk, explained Thill, who has a strong interest in road safety, and has served on state focus groups and committees relating to the topic.

According to Thill, up to 25 percent of all roadway incidents are the result of a previous incident. In Minnesota, vehicle related incidents are the leading line of duty cause of death for firefighters.

“Any way we can protect the firefighters and bring them home safely is worth the dollar amount,” said Eric Bergum, the department’s assistant fire chief.

The message boards are the same style of signage used by Minnesota Department of Transportation vehicles. The IGHFD was the first fire department in the nation to use this type of sign for fire safety.

The IGHFD was one of 4,000 fire departments nationwide to receive funding. A total of 16,000 departments applied for the equipment safety grant.

The message boards cost $24,000. Remaining grant funds also covered the cost of a department rehabilitation tent with heater and cooler, specialized mobile data computers for fire vehicles, department training, stabilization equipment for vehicle crashes and an emergency backup generator for Fire Station 3.