By Sandi Latimer
Staff Writer
Pleasant Township firefighters will be getting some new equipment, much of it paid for by grants.
Fire Chief Brian Taylor made the request at the Feb. 13 meeting of the township trustees.
One request is for the purchase of 17 complete sets of turnout gear from the Phoenix Safety Outfitters that includes coat, pants, helmet, leather boots, two pairs of gloves and two special hoods. The cost of this purchase would be $42,466, but Taylor said 95 percent of the cost comes from an Assistance to Firefighters Grant Award. The cost to the township would be $2,123.
The other request was for 19 breathing apparatuses, each with a pack and two bottles; five masks with bag; and 33 voice amplifiers. The purchase priced from Finely Fire Equipment totals $124,033, but again 95 percent of the cost is picked up by the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Award. The township would be paying $6,343.
One of those benefiting from the new gear is Jeremy James Sanchez who was sworn in as a full-time firefighter at the meeting after he had served two years as a part-timer. He had also been working in nearby Scioto Township and earned 48 hours sick leave. At the request of Taylor, the trustees approved transferring that amount to Pleasant Township.
In other township news, a special meeting that preceded the regular meeting focused on the installation of pipes for drainage in an area along Neff Road north of Beatty.
Jim Ramsey of the Franklin County Engineer’s Office explained that a 24-inch pipe would connect to a 12-inch pipe to drain water to a natural drainage site back from Neff Road. This would aid in future construction of six homes in that area.
Ramsey said the cost of laying 2,300 feet of pipe would cost $175,000, which would be borne by the township, the property owner and Franklin County. Work would not begin until dry weather this summer, he said.
