By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Members of the Ellis County Rural Fire Department will be getting new bunker gear, thanks to a grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.

At the end of September, the department was notified it had received a $24,000 grant from the foundation and, according to Rural Fire Chief Darin Myers, the money will be used for the ongoing process of updating bunker gear.

Myers said the “personal protective equipment” covers a firefighter head-to-toe and consists of a helmet, coat and pants, boots, and gloves.

When Myers was hired as fire chief, one of his goals was to replace aging gear across all companies. Currently, there are 85 people in the rural fire department.

“There was 20 to 30 people that were in pretty good need of getting new gear — some of it was 20-plus years old,” Myers said. “This is going to take the immediate need away.”

The grant will allow the department to purchase 11 sets of new gear, replacing almost half of the gear for the 19 firefighters of Company 6 in Ellis.

Ellis Fire Captain Chris Cline led the effort to apply for the grant, Myers said.

Myers said the department anticipated it would take between five and six years to purchase new gear for every firefighter. The department plans to purchase approximately 15 set of new gear per year.

At moderate to heavy use, Myers said the equipment should be replaced every 10 years, but added because the department does not see heavy use, they estimate needing to replace gear every 15 years.