Two Lawrence County fire departments have been awarded grants from the federal government. Ironton and Windsor Township fire departments are each receiving funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.

The program is providing a little under $270,000 to the Windsor Township Fire Department and almost $50,000 for the Ironton Fire Department.

The Windsor Township Fire Department will use the grant money to purchase a new 2,000-gallon fire tank truck.

“That is going to give us a brand new tanker truck which we’ve never had in the past,” Windsor Chief Don Christian said.

In the past, the department has been able to haul only about 1,000 gallons of water to the scene of a fire. The vehicles the department used were old and constantly needing repair, Christian said.

“Hopefully with this truck, 2000 gallons is a whole lot, we shouldn’t run out of water as quickly I hope,” he said.

Christian is still in the planning phase of purchasing the vehicle and has not found a dealer yet.

“It’s going to take a while but we’ll get it,” Christian said.

Besides the benefit the truck will be to Windsor Township, Christian pointed out that the truck will also be of assistance to surrounding communities, whose fires the department responds to automatically.

In Ironton, the grant money will be used to upgrade personal protective equipment to the current standards, update the department’s training library and to upgrade the department’s National Incident Management System (NIMS) to the current standard.

Ironton Fire Chief Tom Runyon said grants like this one allow the department to offer more than just basic services.

The department has received this grant four or five times over the past few years, he said.

“We feel that (the grant) is a very good and necessary program and we hope the federal government continues to move forward with the program,” Runyon said.

In all, the program offered nearly $1.9 million in grants to 32 Ohio fire departments.