For area fire agencies, mutual aid goes beyond fighting fires.
It also comes in the form of financial assistance. With cash-strapped budgets and a need to meet state laws and safety standards, federal grant money received by area fire districts and agencies is often shared amongst each other in an effort to perform tasks such as upgrading firefighting equipment.
"All the districts work together," Cedar Hammock Fire Division Chief David Quarderer said. "Not all of us could do it without federal assistance."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it would award 89 grants through the 2004 Assistance to Firefighters Grant program to fire agencies nationwide.
Even though Manatee County didn't make the cut during this month's round of grants, seven of the county's fire agencies have received a total of about $1.1 million in grants from the federal agency from 2001 to 2003, according to records from the U.S. Fire Administration. The agency awarded more than $1 billion in grants during that same time period.
Area fire officials say the grant money isn't easy to obtain. The amount of funding received depends on the size of the district, among other criteria.
"We've been lucky to receive those grants. They're not guaranteed every year," West Manatee Deputy Fire Chief Brett Pollock said. "We're thankful the government has funded these things because without it, we wouldn't be able to get this equipment."
For the past two years, area agencies have gathered to discuss their needs. If one agency receives a federal grant to fund firefighting equipment, for example, the agency then shares its funds with other agencies that may not have received the same grant.
It's an intraoperative approach, a term used to describe mutual aid among fire agencies. Whether it's financial or comes to fighting a fire, cooperation among the fire agencies is key in Manatee County, according to fire officials.
Pollock said West Manatee shared the $98,069 in funding it received in 2002 with other area agencies to obtain new mobile data terminals and mobile systems.
Quarderer said Cedar Hammock, West Manatee Fire and Southern Manatee Fire all applied for a grant to enhance fire operations and firefighter safety equipment at their district, but only Cedar Hammock received the funding.
Quarderer said the agency is sharing its $205,650 grant, which it received in December, with West Manatee and Southern Manatee in an effort to enhance the agencies' communication equipment and mobile data terminals.
The grants have also helped the districts implement a firefighter accountability system - a radio device issued to each firefighter that transmit back to the station what call a firefighter is responding to and whether he or she needs to evacuate a burning structure.
"Because we received this grant, it benefits all the other fire districts," Quarderer said. "It's important to the citizens. By all of us cooperating, it provides a greater level of service to citizens."
