ATHOL – The Fire Department has received a grant of $197,400 that will be used for new equipment and training programs.

The department was recently notified it has been awarded the FY25 Assistance for Firefighters Grant, overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. According to the FEMA website, Athol is one of 1,399 agencies nationwide that were awarded an FY25 AFG grant.

Athol Fire Chief Jeff Parker said the money will be used for both equipment and training.

“We applied for a grant to fund two new Lifepak 35 cardiac monitors to replace aging old Lifepaks that were going to become non-compliant soon,” said Parker. “We’re also going to replace eight automatic defibrillators that were expiring.”

The chief said a number of the town’s firefighters would receive Officer I and Instructor I classes, which will be hosted in Athol. The funds would be used in part, he said, to pay personnel who choose to attend either class.

“The Department of Fire Services is obligated to provide the classes for us with our personnel,” he said. “It will be done in Athol, specifically for Athol personnel.”

The Instructor I class, said Parker, “Teaches our personnel – some of our newer members or some of the people who are coming up and want to eventually be officers in the department – it teaches them how to instruct a class, how to present information to a group, how to properly do a PowerPoint, and address a crowd. It provides knowledge on how to prepare for presenting a class in the fire services.”

The chief said the Officer I class is also for the benefit of newer personnel who have aspirations of becoming an officer.

“It teaches how to deal with different personalities, deal with different situations, just to have you better prepared [to deal with individual personnel],” Parker said. “Not everyone is the same. It gives you training on what to look for, signs of potential problems and how to avoid those problems.”

The class also provides instruction in how to “better the community, even with ways to potentially help with budgeting. It’s a starting point to teach new officers how to become leaders in the department,” said Parker.

The training classes, said Parker, will be held sometime over the next two years.