Roanoke Rapids firefighters will be getting new equipment that will replace hand-me-down mobile radios as well as portable radios and pagers through a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

Corbet, Councilwoman Suetta Scarbrough, Butterfield, Dickens, 

Mayor Emery Doughtie and Councilman Carl Ferebee with the check.

U.S. Congressman G.K. Butterfield today presented fire Chief Gary Corbet with a ceremonial check for $34,875, which will be used to buy seven portable radios, seven mobile radios and 26 pagers. The grant will also buy a washer and extractor, which is a machine to wash and clean turnout gear, and a dryer unit to dry the gear.

“Thank you for what you mean to the community,” Butterfield said at the fire station on Roanoke Avenue. “I come here on a happy occasion. I think the American people have really become more appreciative of firefighters, law enforcement and emergency responders. Since 9/11 I think the American people have become more appreciative of firefighters.”

Butterfield said he would have liked to have done more for the fire department but he sees more cuts coming from Washington.

The grant will allow the fire department to give each firefighter a portable radio, radios which will replace ones which will become outdated through new communication regulations.

The pagers will allow off-duty firefighters to hear pages for second calls, Corbet said.

Top, a current portabe.

Botton, a current mobile.

“The mobile radios are old,” the fire chief said. “They were handed down from the police department. Some are late 80s and early 90s.”

The portable radios, which Corbet said are ruggedly built and worn inside a turnout coat, will help with firefighter safety. “This way everyone has one. If they go in somewhere and get disoriented they can call for help.”

Assistant Chief Ricky Dickens said city grant writer Chris Wicker helped him research and write the grant.

Wicker has also helped the fire department with two other grants, for which it is waiting on approval.

One is a Safer grant the department is seeking to staff a frozen position, Corbet said.

The other is a fire prevention grant which provides equipment for firefighters to teach extinguisher use to businesses.

The system uses propane and a remote control to start the fire and reduce and snuff the flame if necessary, Dickens said.

The current system using fuel is unclean and not environmentally friendly, Corbet said.