BAY MINETTE, Ala. — The Bay Minette Fire Department is one of seven Alabama fire departments set to be awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

According to a news release from the office of U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, (R — Ala.), the department is slated to receive $242,573 for operations and safety.

“We’re happy about it,” Bay Minette Fire Chief Phil Bryars said in a telephone interview.

The fire chief explained that the grant will be used to purchase 45 self-contained breathing apparatuses.

“We’re going to buy 30, 30-minute SCBA’s to put on the fire trucks,” Bryars said, “and we’ll be the other 15 on the Hazmat units.”

According to the chief, the fire department has applied for a U.S. Homeland Security grant annually since 2002 and received funding each time, with the exception of three of those years.

”Last year, we bought personal-protection equipment for all 33 (fire department) members,” Bryars said.

He explained that such funding is vital to acquiring equipment that enables the department to provide rescue services for Bay Minette residents.

“We probably received somewhere betwee three quarters of a million dollars in federal funding,” Bryars said. “It’s from the Assistance to Firefighters Grants.”

Work to receive that federal funding begins long before it is presented.

“We applied for the grant back in May,” Bryars said.

According to Shelby, providing such funding is a necessity.

“Firefighters are in the field every day protecting our citizens,” the senator stated in the news release. “We have a responsibility to ensure that our first responders are adequately prepared to respond to any event. These grants are evidence of our nation’s continued commitment to our first responders.”

According to Bryars, awarding those grants to Bay Minette’s first responders provides an extra benefit.

“We all pay taxes,” he said. “It’s nice to bring some of those tax dollars home.”