Newtown Township has taken another step to help out volunteer firefighters who protect lives and property within the township and its neighbor Newtown Borough.
At its meeting earlier this month, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to amend the 2023 budget to allocate $75,000 of the township’s American Rescue Plan allotment from the federal government to the Newtown Fire Association.
The township’s original Rescue Plan allotment totaled $2 million, though township Manager Micah Lewis said Wednesday night he didn’t have the figure on hand of how much is left of the allotment. The volunteer fire association will use the $75,000 to help with the $258,000 purchase of 28 new self-contained breathing apparatus units that enable firefighters to breath when inside burning buildings.
Newtown Fire Association President Warren Dallas explained the association has already used $81,000 of its own funds and a $177,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to purchase the units, which have arrived. He added the $75,000 from the township will reimburse the association most of the $81,000 it had spent on the new units.
“They help keep us safe,” Dallas said during the meeting.
