MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont has received millions of dollars worth of rescue equipment, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The latest round of grants in 2004 brought roughly $19 million in equipment, 80 percent of that going to local police, fire and rescue agencies.
Most of the gear shipped to Vermont will likely never be used to respond to a terrorist attack. Instead, the radios, medical equipment, computers, cameras and a wide range of other goods will go toward responding to local accidents, small disasters and fires.
``We structure our grant requests to be able to use this stuff on a daily basis. By doing that, we are replacing equipment that we would have to use city funds to buy,'' said Burlington Fire Chief Michael O'Neil.
The Burlington Fire Department received $327,611 this year for a variety of items, including boots, radios and thermal imaging cameras.
Most of the equipment coming into Vermont is for traffic control, communication and computer equipment to ease access to information.
Some grants are unusual. The Grand Isle Sheriff's Department is receiving a four-wheel-drive pickup for $35,700. Montgomery Fire, Rescue and Ambulance is obtaining radiological and nuclear detection equipment, costing $800. The East Burke Fire Brigade will buy a $320 meteorological station.
In Vermont, twenty percent of Homeland Security grants go to state agencies, the rest go to local fire, police and rescue services.
The influx of Homeland Security money to rural states such as Vermont irritates some people in large cities, who say they are a more likely target for terrorists.
The New Yorker magazine, for instance, took Colchester to task for equipment it received in an early round of Homeland Security grants that can bore through concrete in collapsed buildings. The article by Elizabeth Kolbert acidly notes that Colchester has no skyscrapers.
Colchester Technical Rescue says it has a written agreement to provide assistance anywhere in the state, particularly with swift water and flooding emergencies, said the group's Mike Cannon.
Boring devices, underwater cameras and confined space communications equipment, all items the technical rescue team received, provide safety and efficiency for most rescues. ``Some of this money is bringing us up to the baseline stuff we should have,'' Cannon said.
