City of Kentwood voters Tuesday approved a permanent dedicated millage increase of 1.95 mills that will provide critical support for police and fire services.
The proposal was passed with 2,835 voting yes, compared to 2,159 no votes.
The millage increase will be levied starting July 1, 2024, and is expected to generate more than $5.1 million in its first year. The funding will enable Kentwood’s Police and Fire departments to hire additional staff members, make necessary vehicle replacements and complete critical equipment upgrades in order to maintain response times and meet growing needs for police, fire and emergency medical services.
“Kentwood residents have approved additional funding that will ensure our Police and Fire departments have the necessary resources to protect and serve our community now and for years to come,” Mayor Stephen Kepley said. “As Kentwood’s population has grown, funds from the current millage have reached maximum impact. We are grateful residents recognized the need for an increase to meet our community’s growing demand for police, fire and emergency medical services.”
Kentwood has experienced significant population growth in the past 10 years, which has led to increased needs for police and fire services. Since 2010, the population has grown by 11.5%. During that time, police calls for service have risen 14% and fire calls have risen 36%.
In the first year, the millage increase will support critical police personnel needs, enabling the Police Department to add, train and support vital additions to the team.
“While our community has grown significantly over the past 10-plus years, our staffing levels have remained the same since 2000,” Police Chief Bryan Litwin said. “This funding will enable us to get our staffing levels up to where they need to be so we can continue to serve our community with excellence.”
As Kentwood’s population continues to grow, the dedicated millage increase also will enable the Fire Department to add another EMS unit when demand for emergency medical services exceeds current staffing.
“This funding will help us keep our promise to maintain an average response time at or below 5 minutes and 20 seconds,” Fire Chief Brent Looman said. “We thank our community for approving this critical support for our department.”
The approved millage increase will support several police and fire initiatives, including:
Addressing critical personnel needs, enabling the Police Department to add, train and support vital additions to the team, raising its minimum staffing level from three officers and a sergeant to five officers and a sergeant.
Adding another EMS unit for the Fire Department in the future when the demand for emergency services exceeds current staffing.
Funding the replacement of necessary police and fire vehicles and other equipment, which have seen significant cost increases in the past few years.
Creating a basic outdoor training facility for police and fire that will eliminate the need for travel expenses and overtime for training purposes, ensuring cost-effective and up-to-date training practices.
Supporting increased simulation-based training for police and fire personnel, helping team members build essential skills so they can make informed decisions in real-time that protect community members, property and fellow emergency personnel.
Updating technology and equipment to protect police and fire team members and community members.
Enabling both police and fire to focus resources on prevention and education and be more proactive in addressing community issues.
Kentwood Firefighters Andy Biederman (left) and Jeff Bouwkamp shared their stories with WKTV last year for Voices from the Front Line. This story features four highlight reels from that program. This clip’s topic: “Not always fires; medical calls as well.”
“When you’re young, you see the big red fire engines, you see the lights, you hear the sirens … and that’s what captures you,” said Kentwood Fire Department Lieutenant Jeff Bouwkamp, a firefighter for over 30 years. “You work here and you start to see the impact that you make, and it kind of gives you satisfaction. It makes you feel good.
“This is the greatest job in the world. I still feel that to this day.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: With the City of Kentwood voters to consider a dedicated millage increase to provide critical support for police and fire services on May 7, WKTV is posting excerpts from an important series from last year called, “Voices from the Front Line: A two-part look inside the life of a Kentwood firefighter.” WKTV spent an afternoon at Kentwood Fire Station 3 on Eastern Ave. as part of a documentary where we interviewed Lieutenant Jeff Bouwkamp and Engine Operator Andy Biederman. We talked about many details of their job as a firefighter … from the most routine calls to the most dangerous, and all things in between.
As the city of Kentwood has continued to grow, the demand for police and fire services also has risen. Since 2010, Kentwood’s population has grown by 11.5%, rising from 48,707 residents in 2010 to 54,303 residents in 2020. If approved, the dedicated millage increase would enable Kentwood’s Police and Fire departments to hire additional staff members and maintain response times to meet growing needs for police, fire and emergency medical services.
Kentwood Firefighters: “Helping people in need.”
Below are excerpts from our detailed conversations last year with these two Kentwood Firefighters:
Andy Biederman, Engine Operator (a Kentwood firefighter for over five years):
What are your duties as Engine Operator?
Basically, I’m in charge of this whole engine behind me; I have to know everything that involves the engine. From the engine itself; the motor to the water pump to all the tools that are on it … how much hose we have on it. It’s a pretty extensive job and I have to get water supply for the firefighters in the fire. We carry 500 gallons on it, so it goes pretty quick. We have a 1,500 gallon-per-minute tank or pump. So it’s a pretty fast-paced job.
Jeff Bouwkamp, Lieutenant (a Kentwood firefighter for over 30 years):
Talk about your responsibilities as a Lieutenant and the shift breakdown?
As the lieutenant here, I’m assigned to Engine 53. We have five people at this fire station; two lieutenants, one equipment operator, two firefighters. I manage day-to-day operations. I make sure the calls get run appropriately, get handled, that we do our jobs, and everything’s done correctly … and that we have a good time and everybody goes home safe at the end of the shift.
We run three different crews through our three different shifts. Each shift consists of two lieutenants, one equipment operator and two firefighters. We work a 24-and-a-quarter hour shift starting at 6:45 in the morning and get done at seven o’clock the next morning, that gives us about 15 minutes to overlap and do a little shift exchange. And then we get 24 hours off. Our second day is another 24-hour shift and we get the fourth day off, and then we work the fifth day. So, we work three out of five 24-hour days, and we get four off at the end. It comes out to about 10 days of work a month.
Talk about the physical and emotional toll. How do you deal with the stress and anxiety?
ANDY:
Something that they’re trying to promote and push better is the whole mental health situation in the fire service. And with any kind of first responder or police officer they have seen a lot of suicides in this job, just due to the amount of stress and types of calls that we see, it starts building up. The older firefighters out there typically used to hold their feelings back, suppress them and not talk to anybody, when really that’s not beneficial. It’s easier to talk to somebody and get that information out to help you help other people. So it’s been a growing trend just to help talk to somebody and go that route.
JEFF:
We’re always watching each other … we’re that close. I pay close attention to the people that I’m working with because they’re very important to me. Because at one point or another we’re going to do something, we’re going to be out there together. I’m going to be relying on them, they’re going to be relying on me. We have to be there for each other. And I think the mental health aspect is a huge deal. So, I’m watching out for each one of the people here and each person is watching out for the other ones, because you may pick up on something and that’s huge, because yeah, that never used to happen. Or I can’t say never, but that really wasn’t in the forefront. People don’t talk about it.
Many youngsters dream of being a firefighter or police officer. What age were you when you thought of this as a career, and was there someone who sparked your interest?
ANDY:
I grew up in the Chicago area and I have a cousin that works for the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Department, and ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to do that. We also had some close family friends who were firefighters in our local department where I used to live in Evanston. I would go there after school and the firefighters would basically treat me like I was one of their kids. After school, when my parents were still working, I would hang out at the firehouse until they were done working. I was immersed in that whole environment, my whole childhood. And that’s something I never wanted to leave.
When you see a fire truck go by, you think they’re going to a fire, and you don’t necessarily understand that they might be going to a cardiac arrest, or they can go into something else that isn’t necessarily a fire. It kind of adds a different perspective because every time you do see it, typically they are going for a true emergency. So, with that kind of in the back of your head, it changes your perspective about how it’s not always with just the fires that we change lives. It’s also the medical calls that we go through as well. You want to make a difference.
JEFF:
This is all I’ve ever wanted to do is be on the fire department. I’ve never wanted to do anything else. I used to hang out with Brent Looman, we were buddies growing up, and now he’s the fire chief in Kentwood. His dad was on the fire department and we would see him going to calls and we’d hear about them and that just kind of caught me. As I grew up it never left me.
I’ve had a few different jobs; worked as a plumber, worked in a factory. Nothing beats the fire department. This is the greatest job in the world. I still feel that to this day.
Kentwood Firefighters: “5,000 calls last year: 13 per day.”
How does being a firefighter blend in with your family life?
JEFF:
Last year, we ran almost 5,000 calls, and two years ago we ran over 5,000 calls. If you break that down for all of our shifts, we have half a day where we don’t run a call, and we can just be crisscrossing all over the place. So, we always have to be ready. In the beginning, it was a little difficult because my family was … ‘Well, you coming over for Thanksgiving? … uh, you’re coming over here for Christmas, right?’ If you have to work, they don’t quite understand that because people have Thanksgiving off, or maybe they have Christmas off. They don’t understand the schedule right away. That’s a little bit of a work in progress.
When your spouse needs help with the kids or whatever, and you’re not around, and you’re not going to be around until the next day, it makes it a little different. But you start to learn to adapt to that. One of the nice things is that we have days off during the week where my kids have done things with school, and I’ve been able to go on field trips with them. I’ve done things that some other dads aren’t fortunate enough to do. If I do work on their birthday, we’re going out on another day for their birthday. We’ve done Christmas almost a week early and a half a week late.
Let’s talk about the dangers of being a firefighter. When I walk through the doors at my office I don’t have to worry about saving lives or putting out fires. How often are you and the team put into dangerous, life-threatening situations?
ANDY:
Every call we go to could potentially be life threatening or dangerous. We definitely don’t really know what we’re getting into once that alarm goes off. We’ve had times where we’ll get dispatched for a fall, and when we get there it’s a cardiac arrest. So, we have to be on our toes and be able to adapt to every different kind of situation. It’s no different if we get a burning complaint for somebody in the campfire in their backyard. And then when we get there, it’s a structure fire. Each call has its own different type of variables. It’s hard to pinpoint what’s going to be life threatening, or what’s going to be, you know, your run of the mill call, because I think these calls can turn into something that they’re not.
City of Kentwood voters will consider a dedicated millage increase of 1.95 mills on the May 7 ballot that, if approved, would provide critical support for police and fire services.
As the city of Kentwood has continued to grow, the demand for police and fire services has also risen. Since 2010, Kentwood’s population has grown by 11.5%, rising from 48,707 residents in 2010 to 54,303 residents in 2020. If approved, the dedicated millage increase would enable Kentwood’s Police and Fire departments to hire additional staff members and maintain response times to meet growing needs for police, fire and emergency medical services.
Kentwood has grown from 48,707 residents in 2010 to 54,303 in 2020
“Our community has grown exponentially over the past 10-plus years, and with that growth comes a need for continued investment in our police and fire services,” Mayor Stephen Kepley said. “As our teams respond to more calls for service and support more residents, additional funding for our Police and Fire departments will ensure they have the necessary resources to protect and serve our community.”
Last police and fire millage passed in 2010
The last police and fire millage of 2 mills was passed in 2010, with nearly 62% of voters in favor. The millage was expected to maintain police and fire operations through 2020.
“We have been good stewards of the 2010 police and fire millage, leveraging dollars for four additional years than originally projected,” Kepley said. “We will be as effective and intentional with funds from this millage increase if approved.”
The proposed millage increase was approved by the City Commission on Jan. 9. If approved, it would be levied starting July 1, 2024. It is expected to generate more than $5.1 million in its first year.
“Our goal is to serve our community with excellence, and this millage increase will support that effort,” Police Chief Bryan Litwin said. “As our community continues to grow, we have seen a 14% increase in the number of calls for police service over the past decade, but our staffing levels have remained the same since 2000. It is critical for us to get our staffing levels up to where they have to be to meet our community’s needs today and well into the future.”
If approved, the dedicated millage is projected to support a variety of police and fire initiatives over the next seven years, including:
Addressing critical personnel needs, enabling police to add, train and support vital additions to the team, raising their minimum staffing level from three officers and a sergeant to five officers and a sergeant.
Adding another EMS unit for the Fire Department in the future when the demand for emergency services exceeds current staffing.
Funding the replacement of necessary police and fire vehicles and other equipment, which have seen significant cost increases in the past few years.
Creating a basic outdoor training facility for police and fire that will eliminate the need for travel expenses and overtime for training purposes, ensuring cost-effective and up-to-date training practices.
Supporting increased simulation-based training for police and fire personnel, helping team members build essential skills so they can make informed decisions in real-time that protect community members, property and fellow emergency personnel.
Updating technology and equipment to protect police and fire team members and community members.
Enabling both police and fire to focus resources on prevention and education and be more proactive in addressing community issues.
“We made a promise to our community to keep our average response time at or below 5 minutes and 20 seconds,” Fire Chief Brent Looman said. “To continue to meet this standard as we respond to 36% more calls than we did a decade ago, we need additional resources. Our ability to meet this response standard can mean the difference between life and death.”
Kentwood’s Engine 55 at Kentwood Fire Station 3. (WKTV/Cris Greer)
1.95 mills equals $195 per year for a residential home with a taxable value of $100,000
A mill is 1/1000 of a dollar, or 0.001 cents. If a tax rate or millage rate is 1.95 mills, a resident is taxed 0.00195 cents for every dollar, or $1.95 per $1,000 of the taxable value of the property. For example, for a residential home with a taxable value of $100,000, the cost of 1.95 mills would be $195 per year, equating to $16.25 per month.
City of Kentwood voters will consider a dedicated millage increase of 1.95 mills on the May 7 ballot that, if approved, would provide critical support for police and fire services.
As the city of Kentwood has continued to grow, the demand for police and fire services has also risen. Since 2010, Kentwood’s population has grown by 11.5%, rising from 48,707 residents in 2010 to 54,303 residents in 2020. If approved, the dedicated millage increase would enable Kentwood’s Police and Fire departments to hire additional staff members and maintain response times to meet growing needs for police, fire and emergency medical services.
Kentwood has grown from 48,707 residents in 2010 to 54,303 in 2020
“Our community has grown exponentially over the past 10-plus years, and with that growth comes a need for continued investment in our police and fire services,” Mayor Stephen Kepley said. “As our teams respond to more calls for service and support more residents, additional funding for our Police and Fire departments will ensure they have the necessary resources to protect and serve our community.”
Last police and fire millage passed in 2010
The last police and fire millage of 2 mills was passed in 2010, with nearly 62% of voters in favor. The millage was expected to maintain police and fire operations through 2020.
“We have been good stewards of the 2010 police and fire millage, leveraging dollars for four additional years than originally projected,” Kepley said. “We will be as effective and intentional with funds from this millage increase if approved.”
The proposed millage increase was approved by the City Commission on Jan. 9. If approved, it would be levied starting July 1, 2024. It is expected to generate more than $5.1 million in its first year.
“Our goal is to serve our community with excellence, and this millage increase will support that effort,” Police Chief Bryan Litwin said. “As our community continues to grow, we have seen a 14% increase in the number of calls for police service over the past decade, but our staffing levels have remained the same since 2000. It is critical for us to get our staffing levels up to where they have to be to meet our community’s needs today and well into the future.”
If approved, the dedicated millage is projected to support a variety of police and fire initiatives over the next seven years, including:
Addressing critical personnel needs, enabling police to add, train and support vital additions to the team, raising their minimum staffing level from three officers and a sergeant to five officers and a sergeant.
Adding another EMS unit for the Fire Department in the future when the demand for emergency services exceeds current staffing.
Funding the replacement of necessary police and fire vehicles and other equipment, which have seen significant cost increases in the past few years.
Creating a basic outdoor training facility for police and fire that will eliminate the need for travel expenses and overtime for training purposes, ensuring cost-effective and up-to-date training practices.
Supporting increased simulation-based training for police and fire personnel, helping team members build essential skills so they can make informed decisions in real-time that protect community members, property and fellow emergency personnel.
Updating technology and equipment to protect police and fire team members and community members.
Enabling both police and fire to focus resources on prevention and education and be more proactive in addressing community issues.
“We made a promise to our community to keep our average response time at or below 5 minutes and 20 seconds,” Fire Chief Brent Looman said. “To continue to meet this standard as we respond to 36% more calls than we did a decade ago, we need additional resources. Our ability to meet this response standard can mean the difference between life and death.”
Kentwood’s Engine 55 at Kentwood Fire Station 3. (WKTV/Cris Greer)
1.95 mills equals $195 per year for a residential home with a taxable value of $100,000
A mill is 1/1000 of a dollar, or 0.001 cents. If a tax rate or millage rate is 1.95 mills, a resident is taxed 0.00195 cents for every dollar, or $1.95 per $1,000 of the taxable value of the property. For example, for a residential home with a taxable value of $100,000, the cost of 1.95 mills would be $195 per year, equating to $16.25 per month.
Kentwood firefighters Andy Biederman (left) and Jeff Bouwkamp at Fire Station 3. (WKTV/Cris Greer)
By Cris Greer
WKTV Managing Editor
greer@wktv.org
EDITOR’S NOTE: WKTV recently spent an afternoon at Kentwood Fire Station 3 on Eastern Ave. as part of a documentary we produced called “Voices from the Front Line,” where we interviewed Lieutenant Jeff Bouwkamp and Engine Operator Andy Biederman. We talked about all the details of their job as a firefighter … from the most routine calls to the most dangerous, and everything in between. This is Part 2 of a two-part series on our very interesting and informative conversation below.
Let’s talk about the dangers of being a firefighter. When I walk through the doors at my office I don’t have to worry about saving lives or putting out fires. How often are you and the team put into dangerous, life-threatening situations?
Andy Biederman, Engine Operator (a Kentwood firefighter for five years):
Every call we go to could potentially be life threatening or dangerous. We definitely don’t really know what we’re getting into once that alarm goes off. We’ve had times where we’ll get dispatched for a fall, and when we get there it’s a cardiac arrest. So, we have to be on our toes and be able to adapt to every different kind of situation. It’s no different if we get a burning complaint for somebody in the campfire in their backyard. And then when we get there, it’s a structure fire. Each call has its own different type of variables. It’s hard to pinpoint what’s going to be life threatening, or what’s going to be, you know, your run of the mill call, because I think these calls can turn into something that they’re not.
Talk about the physical and emotional toll. How do you deal with the stress and anxiety? Is there help or counseling available?
ANDY:
Something that they’re trying to promote and push better is the whole mental health situation in the fire service. And with any kind of first responder or police officer they have seen a lot of suicides in this job, just due to the amount of stress and types of calls that we see, it starts building up. The older firefighters out there typically used to hold their feelings back, suppress them and not talk to anybody, when really that’s not beneficial. It’s easier to talk to somebody and get that information out to help you help other people. So it’s been a growing trend just to help talk to somebody and go that route.
Jeff Bouwkamp, Lieutenant (a Kentwood firefighter for 30 years):
We’re always watching each other … we’re that close. If somebody’s having a bad day you can tell. I pay close attention to the people that I’m working with because they’re very important to me. Because at one point or another we’re going to do something, we’re going to be out there together. I’m going to be relying on them, they’re going to be relying on me. We have to be there for each other. And I think the mental health aspect is a huge deal. So, I’m watching out for each one of the people here and each person is watching out for the other ones, because you may pick up on something and that’s huge, because yeah, that never used to happen. Or I can’t say never, but that really wasn’t in the forefront. People don’t talk about it.
Does the stress help you better manage your personal life stresses, if so, give an example?
ANDY:
I think the types of calls that we see here and having to think on our feet definitely helps at home. I tend to be a lot more relaxed, but I think that’s just a big factor from working here. Just seeing different things that happen and reacting to it. Because if you start freaking out on a fire scene or on a medical, you’re not helping anybody. You’re making things worse if you start running around or yelling; it doesn’t do any good. But if you remain calm, you can think clearer, you can figure out what’s going on and then go from there and make a plan.
JEFF:
The stuff that we see or the stuff that we come in contact with or the stuff that we train for, this definitely helps me when I’m out of here, because it helps me be like, ‘Oh, sorry, we’re gonna get through this, we can make this happen, we can make this work. It’s going to be okay.’ I don’t sweat the small stuff; not downplaying anybody’s issues outside of here, but it’s helped me out a lot. The firefighters that are here, the family that they have at home, I give them a lot of credit because I’m sure at some point or another they do take stuff home. And that’s what they have to deal with. I know what’s helped me out a lot is the crew that I work with because there are times I tend to get a little excited. And it’s really nice to be able to feed off these guys to where it helps keep me in check as well. And that’s part of where we all kind of watch each other. And last year, we ran 5,000 calls. You can take and divide that up between 365 days, and you can find an average, but there are days where maybe we run three or four calls. And then there’s days where maybe we run 10 calls. There are some times during the whole shift, the whole city may run six calls. And then the storm comes through, you know, and we run 25, there’s no routine. That’s one of the great things because you just never know. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve made dinner and it’s quarter to five, and we’re getting ready to eat and you end up running something and then you’re back at 10 o’clock at night, and okay, well, that’s ruined. There is no routine, but that’s just what makes this job so great.
Talk about the amount of hours it takes to put fires out and what’s the longest time you’ve spent doing so?
ANDY:
Every fire call is different. I think on average you’re probably looking at around an hour, give or take from start to your last unit cleaning up. And I say this is a typical fire of about an hour, but not every fire’s typical. We’ve been on fires that have lasted eight hours, nine hours, you know, just the magnitude of the call.
Firefighter suits waiting in lockers for the next alarm at Kentwood Fire Station 3. (WKTV/Cris Greer)
JEFF:
We wear a suit that’s made of Nomex, which is fire resistant. During the winter, it’s nice because it’s a little bit warmer, and during the summer it gets hot. But it protects us from the heat, from the fires. So that’s the nice thing with technology. We get to a fire and we get a little protection. Gotta remember that we’re getting into a burning building, we have to be really careful that we’re not in there too long. We also have the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) that we wear on our back. It’s been nice because with technology the bottles have gotten a little smaller, they’ve gotten a little lighter, but they carry about 30 minutes of oxygen in them and that helps out.
ANDY:
The thing that we have to remember, too, is we have all this equipment and the person that potentially is in the house fire doesn’t. So, it’s our job to effectively and efficiently search that house and try to find them to remove them as quickly as possible. Because not only do they not have any protection, there’s all that smoke and all those dangerous toxins in there and stuff that’s not conducive for life. It’s our job using that equipment to get them out. And it’s kind of scary on how good our equipment is and how much heat we can take without really knowing how much heat we’ll truly take. I don’t think there’s a statistic about it. I think it’s all situational. It’s all dependent on the fire, where they are in the fire. And there are a lot of factors that are just very endless because not everybody will survive a house fire. But it’s our job to give them the best chance that they have.
Can you give our readers some fire safety tips:
JEFF:
There’s a fire safety message that we push.
*Have working smoke detectors inside bedrooms and throughout the house. There’s no reason to not call your local fire department if you don’t have them. Tell them, ‘Hey, my house doesn’t have enough smoke detectors or I don’t think they’re working.’ Call them and they’ll come out. And (you should) test them every month.
*Have working carbon monoxide alarms.
*Don’t have anything near your stovetop.
*Space heaters: Unplug them when you’re not using them and keep them 3 feet away from bedding, drapes and furniture, and combustible items.
*Have exit drills in your home. We go into all these schools in October, November for Fire Prevention Month and we teach them about fire safety. We talk about exit drills in the home; have a plan to get out, have a meeting place.
Get Out, Call 911 and Don’t Go Back In!
ANDY:
Another thing, too, is to close your doors. It’s better to close your door at night in case you’re dealing with fire, you’re gonna have less fire spread to that room. And then when you’re leaving, try to close your doors as well, because that’ll help contain the fire in that room, ideally. Now, there are obviously circumstances where that doesn’t happen, but you’re usually in a panic, you want to get out as fast as possible, but closing your doors can help affect the limit and the spread of fire.
(WKTV/Cris Greer)
How often does it turn into a domestic situation?
ANDY:
There are situations where one person might be mad at the other … and now they’re yelling at each other. And so we have to attend to that emergency. But we also try to keep them apart and try to figure out what the best course of action is. We’re not police officers, but we’re also an advocate for patient care and advocate for them. It’s everything … from having a grandma or grandpa that falls all the way to a cardiac arrest. We are here for the citizens of Kentwood. If you call we’re going to come and help you out as best as we can. We’ve had kids who lock themselves in the bathroom, we go there and help them unlock it. It’s a wide variety of calls.
Can you explain the certifications and training necessary to be a firefighter, and how much time you spend keeping up on that training and keeping equipment up to date?
JEFF:
We do a lot of hands on training, and a lot of it we do here. We can’t light a fire here, but we’ll practice pulling lines off the engine. Out behind the strip mall by the station there’s a hydrant we hook up to and we’ll practice pulling lines, we’ll practice stretching the lines, advancing them. A couple times a year we do what we call a block training where we’re off shift, we come back and do various strains. And during the wintertime, we do EMS training and codes. During the summer we’ll practice something that we can do outside. We’ll go to a training tower in the city of Wyoming or we can go to the city of Grand Rapids where they have some burn containers and we’ll do some fires there and practice.
Fire Call Crossovers with other cities?
JEFF:
We have a mutual aid agreement. And there are areas where we’ll run a certain distance into Wyoming, and they run a certain distance into Kentwood. If we were to get a possible structure fire they would automatically be on that alarm. There are times we do that with Grand Rapids, we have it with Cascade, and we have it with Cutlerville and Dutton. We have all our neighboring departments, and it’s a good thing, because we help each other out. And then sometimes we actually will run into those municipalities and run calls for them when they’re tied up, and they don’t have the resources to get to them. So that’s kind of a nice thing, too, because they will reciprocate that to us. If we’re tied up somewhere, we have a fire or something and all of our equipment is in a certain area, and maybe we can’t get to it very quick … they’ll turn it over to a neighboring department, and they’ll run it as a mutual aid call. And they’ll cover that for us.
Talk about the calls that stick in your head?
ANDY:
I Think any kind of call that deals with children is a call that kind of sticks in the back of my head. Typically, we don’t like running calls that involve kids, because a lot of us have them. I think it hits home, and you know, all the pediatric calls that I’ve run, I remember them. But as long as you give your best and you do what’s right for the patient, I can sleep at night.
JEFF:
I’d have to say kids’ calls are the worst. A couple of things that just stand out in my mind are kids calls and just needless accidents that happen. People being careless.
Kentwood firefighters Andy Biederman (left) and Jeff Bouwkamp at Fire Station 3. (WKTV/Cris Greer)
By Cris Greer
WKTV Managing Editor
greer@wktv.org
EDITOR’S NOTE: WKTV recently spent an afternoon at Kentwood Fire Station 3 on Eastern Ave. as part of a documentary we produced called “Voices from the Front Line,” where we interviewed Lieutenant Jeff Bouwkamp and Engine Operator Andy Biederman. We talked about all the details of their job as a firefighter … from the most routine calls to the most dangerous, and everything in between. This is Part 1 of a two-part series on our very interesting and informative conversation below.
Andy Biederman, Engine Operator (a Kentwood firefighter for five years):
What are your duties as Engine Operator?
Basically, I’m in charge of this whole engine behind me; I have to know everything that involves the engine. From the engine itself; the motor to the water pump to all the tools that are on it … how much hose we have on it. It’s a pretty extensive job and I have to get water supply for the firefighters in the fire. We carry 500 gallons on it, so it goes pretty quick. We have a 1,500 gallon-per-minute tank or pump. So it’s a pretty fast-paced job.
Jeff Bouwkamp, Lieutenant (a Kentwood firefighter for 30 years):
Talk about your responsibilities as a Lieutenant and the breakdown of shifts?
As the lieutenant here, I’m assigned to Engine 53. We have five people at this fire station; two lieutenants, one equipment operator, two firefighters. I manage day-to-day operations. I make sure the calls get run appropriately, get handled, that we do our jobs, and everything’s done correctly … and that we have a good time and everybody goes home safe at the end of the shift.
We run three different crews through our three different shifts. Each shift consists of two lieutenants, one equipment operator and two firefighters. The three shifts makes 15 people. We’ll run Engine 53 and Medic 53 out of the fire station. We work a 24-and-a-quarter hour shift starting at 6:45 in the morning and get done at seven o’clock the next morning, that gives us about 15 minutes to overlap and do a little shift exchange. And then we get 24 hours off. Our second day is another 24-hour shift and we get the fourth day off, and then we work the fifth day. So, we work three out of five 24-hour days, and we get four off at the end. It comes out to about 10 days of work a month.
Talk about the warning system of alerting firefighters for calls:
ANDY:
When you’re a new guy here, you don’t want to miss a call. So, it’s all important to hear that call when it goes off. If you don’t wake up for that call it’s a bad day. A lot of it is just being excited to be here. We have a lot of new guys here and they want to run the calls so they’re going to wake up for them. There’s a study about when the alarms used to go off, they’re very loud and like an abrupt alarm. But now they’ve realized with the study that a gradual tone is easier on your heart.
If you hear that loud tone at 3 in the morning, you’re automatically gonna start getting an increased heart rate, you’re already starting to kind of get some anxiety, if you will. So, the gradual tone will help reduce that which is beneficial for everybody.
JEFF:
We used to get a phone call from dispatch and now we’re on the 900 megahertz system. We have a station alert from the Kent County Communications Center, which is the Kent County Sheriff’s Office. They dispatch us; they hit a button and it transmits over our intercom. And then they’ll say Medic 53 or Engine 53 and tell us what we have and they’ll give us the address and then we just get up and go out.
Many youngsters dream of being a firefighter or police officer. What age were you when you thought of this as a career, and was there someone who sparked your interest?
ANDY:
I grew up in the Chicago area and I have a cousin that works for the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Department, and ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to do that. We also had some close family friends who were firefighters in our local department where I used to live in Evanston. I would go there after school and the firefighters would basically treat me like I was one of their kids. After school, when my parents were still working, I would hang out at the firehouse until they were done working. I was immersed in that whole environment, my whole childhood. And that’s something I never wanted to leave.
When you see a fire truck go by, you think they’re going to a fire, and you don’t necessarily understand that they might be going to a cardiac arrest, or they can go into something else that isn’t necessarily a fire. In joining the fire service, you learn that. And it kind of adds a different perspective because every time you do see it, typically they are going for a true emergency. So, with that kind of in the back of your head, it changes your perspective about how it’s not always with just the fires that we change lives. It’s also the medical calls that we go through as well. You want to make a difference.
JEFF:
This is all I’ve ever wanted to do is be on the fire department. I’ve never wanted to do anything else. I used to hang out with Brent Looman, we were buddies growing up, and now he’s the fire chief in Kentwood. His dad was on the fire department and we would see him going to calls and we’d hear about them and that just kind of caught me. As I grew up it never left me.
Kentwood Fire Chief Brent Looman. (Courtesy, City of Kentwood)
I’ve had a few different jobs; worked as a plumber, worked in a factory. Nothing beats the fire department. This is the greatest job in the world. I still feel that to this day.
When you’re young, you see the big red fire engines, you see the lights, and you hear the sirens, and that’s what captures you. You work here and you start to see the impact that you make, and it kind of gives you satisfaction. It makes you feel good.
You’re helping somebody who’s in need, helping them with something that they can’t take care of themselves.
Talk about the tight-knit camaraderie you have here at the Fire Station:
ANDY:
It’s kind of nice that everybody knows each other by their first name; they know their families. We’ve all interacted outside of work, which is huge, too, because that also helps build that camaraderie. At a bigger department sometimes you don’t necessarily know everybody.
JEFF:
We get together for different things. During the summer we get together for picnics and whoever can get together for our shift. And we also have a nice Christmas dinner together. We’ll do stuff like that off duty or on occasion we’ll go to a hockey game or a baseball game or whatever. And that’s a special thing because a lot of times the spouses and the families get involved. But what I would tell people is, even when I worked as a plumber, I worked at a good place. But we didn’t have near as much fun as what we have here.
The closeness that we have is just great. Other jobs, I didn’t know how many kids they had or how old they were. I know these guys, I know their kids and I know their families. They come in and we have a good time; we laugh, we joke around and that’s a special thing.
How does being a firefighter blend in with your family life?
JEFF:
Last year, we ran almost 5,000 calls, and two years ago we ran over 5,000 calls. If you break that down for all of our shifts, we have half a day where we don’t run a call, and we can just be crisscrossing all over the place. So, we always have to be ready. In the beginning, it was a little difficult because my family was … ‘Well, you coming over for Thanksgiving? … uh, you’re coming over here for Christmas, right?’ If you have to work, they don’t quite understand that because people have Thanksgiving off, or maybe they have Christmas off. They don’t understand the schedule right away. That’s a little bit of a work in progress.
When your spouse needs help with the kids or whatever, and you’re not around, and you’re not going to be around until the next day, it makes it a little different. But you start to learn to adapt to that. One of the nice things is that we have days off during the week where my kids have done things with school, and I’ve been able to go on field trips with them. I’ve done things that some other dads aren’t fortunate enough to do. If I do work on their birthday, we’re going out on another day for their birthday. We’ve done Christmas almost a week early and a half a week late.
Kentwood’s Engine 55 at Fire Station 3. (WKTV/Cris Greer)
A day in the life…
JEFF:
Our shift starts at 6:45 a.m. We get in our uniform, get our gear and put it by where we’re going to be for the day. We do a little shift exchange with the off-going crew and then we do our vehicle checks. After we do vehicle checks we have a shift meeting and a schedule comes out for the day. We get all of our errands run. We work three shifts, but what we’ll probably do is go grocery shopping the first day for the whole week, and get that out of the way.
We do our station cleaning: kitchens, hallways, bathrooms, showers, all of that. We do any training that needs to get done; a lot of online training, especially for our EMT license. The first of every month I get inspections so the lieutenants will go out and do inspections. We take the crews out; we get to go through buildings in the city. That’s really nice because you get into places that you don’t normally see. We see things that may become problematic and help them get that straightened out; it’s more of a safety inspection. After lunch, we finish up our daily duties. About three o’clock we work out for about an hour; we’ve got a treadmill and some free weights, elliptical and a whole host of things. We usually eat after 5 o’clock.
Some of us will finish up projects after five, but normally that’s our downtime. We’ll watch movies and play games or whatever. And then after 5 o’clock we have to make sure that throughout the day no matter what we’re doing we’re freed up for alarms or medicals or whatever may happen. At night, you really don’t sleep well here; it’s more resting between calls. You never know when you’re gonna get a call … that’s always on your mind. It’s really hard to just relax. Sometimes you run a couple calls at night, sometimes you’re up all night.
Can you explain the certifications and training necessary to be a firefighter, and how much time you spend keeping up on that training and equipment?
JEFF:
About 3 o’clock we work out for about an hour; we’ve got a treadmill and some free weights, an elliptical and a whole host of things. We do an annual physical agility test and that has eight different things that we have to accomplish within a set time. That has to do with swinging a sledgehammer a certain amount of times within a time limit, pulling some holes and hooking up pieces of equipment, carrying equipment up and down a set of stairs.
We make several trips to know your physical strength and your cardio. There’s another one where we use a mannequin full of heavy stuffing and we’ll drag that a certain distance around, in certain ways, and then come back. We do that annually. We’ll go to a doctor to make sure we’re physically fit to do the job. To work here we have Fire 1 and 2, which is the minimum that they would give you if you were to just apply at a department.
And then we’re also all EMTs. Certain people that we’ve hired have gone past that and have gotten a paramedic license. We do not operate as paramedics, but we’ve hired people who are paramedics. We also have a certification in hazardous materials. I have Ropes 1 and 2 for high and low rescue, and I have trench rescue and confined space.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please look for Part 2 of this series on Friday. To watch the entire program, click here: “Voices from the Front Line”
A two-car crash near 60th St. and Wing Ave. on Thursday in Kentwood has placed a 4-year-old child in critical condition and a 5-year-old in fair condition.
At approximately 8:07 a.m. on Jan. 4, the Kentwood Police Department responded to the crash and located one vehicle occupied by an adult female and two minor children.
One of the minor children was pinned in the vehicle. The Kentwood Fire Department was able to extricate the child from the vehicle and both children were transported to a local hospital.
It does not appear that alcohol or drugs were a factor in this crash. The Kentwood Police Department continues to investigate. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Police Department Traffic Bureau at 616-656-6561. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or SilentObserver.org.
As part of its preliminary investigation into a Nov. 28 house fire that claimed the lives of two people, the Kentwood Fire Department believes the cause was accidental.
KFD, in partnership with the Kentwood Police Department and Michigan State Police, continues to investigate the fire in the 400 block of 48th Street SE. Fire investigators are looking into possible electrical issues after finding a space heater near the fire’s origin.
At 3:23 a.m. on Nov. 28, the Kentwood Fire and Police departments were dispatched to the 400 block of 48th Street SE in response to a residential house fire. A KFD medic unit was the first to arrive and initiated rescue attempts, followed quickly by additional Kentwood and Cutlerville firefighters, who joined efforts to rescue individuals in the home and put out the fire.
The home was occupied by 11 individuals at the time of the fire. Nine of the residents made it out of the home safely. Medical assistance was provided to a 12-year-old female and a 19-year-old female, who were both pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of death for both individuals was smoke inhalation. Their names are being withheld pending notification of loved ones.
Kentwood Police Department seeking info on recent homicide
The Kentwood Police Department is asking anyone with information on a homicide that occurred Friday, Nov. 25 at the 5100 block of Wichita Dr SE to call 616-656-6604.
(Courtesy, City of Kentwood)
Officers arrived on the scene and located a 30-year-old male with multiple gunshot wounds in the hallway of one of the apartment buildings. The subject was pronounced dead at the scene.
No arrests have been made at this time and the investigation is ongoing.
Anonymous tips can be submitted through Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or SilentObserver.org.
For Kentwood firefighter and emergency medical technician Darryl DeVries, learning American Sign Language had been on his to-do list since he was a high school student in the 1980s.
But a little more than a decade ago, when he had already been working full time for the city of Kentwood for almost a decade, he decided ASL probably wasn’t in the cards for him anymore.
And then a chance encounter after a Kentucky church service got DeVries to thinking that maybe his high school hopes were still alive.
City of Kentwood firefighter Darryl DeVries (Supplied)
“I was standing alone,” he recalled recently, “not knowing anyone when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and was met by a guy, John, with a warm, contagious, ear-to-ear smile.”
Darryl reached out his hand and said hello. John replied by signing. And Darryl had two immediate thoughts.
“First, I thought ‘if only I had learned sign language’,” he said. “Second, I thought ‘go figure, I just cut it from my wish list.’ ”
But John had other ideas and ended up teaching Darryl the ASL alphabet that day.
“And I have been learning ASL ever since,” he said with a smile.
Kentwood non-profit helping out
For a few years he studied ASL on his own, using books and online resources and even attending a church which provided services in ASL.
Then driving past Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services one day, he saw a sign for ASL classes. He stopped in and met some of the staff, including Executive Director Deb Atwood.
“D&HHS has pretty much taken me under their wing ever since,” he said, “always supportive and encouraging.”
Part of that support and encouragement has been working with Community Education Coordinator Nancy Piersma, a Native Deaf Facilitator.
“Nancy has spent hours tutoring me in translating the questions we routinely go through with patients and teaching me signs unique to West Michigan,” he noted.
It’s what D&HHS does, said Atwood.
“We’ve been around for almost 25 years,” Atwood said, “and a big part of our mission has always been what I’d call the education and advocacy piece. We do cultural and sensitivity training around issues relating to the Deaf, we work and partner with other organizations and state agencies, we offer the ASL classes that Darryl took. It’s hard work, but it’s always gratifying to see when people have that ‘aha moment’ as Darryl did and as so many others have. That’s what makes it worthwhile.”
DeVries added that in his work, he has had several opportunities to use ASL.
“It is neat,” he said, “to see a patient’s reaction change from ‘This guy won’t understand me’ to ‘What? Wow! He’s signing!’ Just being able to say my name and something like ‘I help you’ makes a huge difference.”
A West Michigan native and University of Michigan graduate, DeVries said that ASL is one more way to break down barriers and eliminate differences, to “understand each other and find common ground.”
He added: “Kentwood is a very diverse community. I wish I could speak fluently with everyone I meet, but I have chosen to dive into ASL. ASL is amazing when you see a patient’s face light up when they realize you are communicating with them in their silent language which is often overlooked and avoided. ASL is one of the most used, least-known languages in the United States.”
DeVries is eligible for the City of Kentwood’s Language Incentive Program which encourages employees to apply their language proficiencies in service to Kentwood’s diverse community.
New and current employees with excellent language skills who meet proficiency requirements earn monetary bonuses through the program and are tested in their non-English language of choice on an annual basis.
In addition to providing classes, tutoring and more for DeVries, D&HHS also worked with Kentwood’s Human Resources department to develop an ASL test that qualified him for language incentive pay and has worked with him each year on his retest.
For more information on the Kentwood-based Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, visit deafhhs.org.
Ken Smith was welcomed by family and friends in his West Michigan home area, while firemen and fire departments have been rallying to his cause across the nation. (WKTV/K.D. Norris.
Kentwood resident and avid bicyclist Ken Smith arrived back home Wednesday, 2,500 miles into a west coast-to-east coast trip to raise funds for his grandson, Jakob, and awareness of all persons with neurological damage.
He biked into town with a photo, and loving memories, of Jakob in front of him and the sure knowledge that his hometown fire departments and fire departments across the nation have his back.
Smith, 70, whose father was a fireman and son is a fireman, is riding from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean — Seaside, Oregon, to Boston, Massachusetts — in hopes of raising $30,000 to provide for possible care of and therapy for Jakob.
And while on the road, and in his West Michigan home area, firemen and fire departments have been rallying to his cause.
“The support from firefighters has been wonderful so far,” Smith said, surrounded by family and firemen at the City of Kentwood Fire Department Station 1, near City Hall.
Smith first gained support when he went to the City of Grand Rapids fire department and got a letter of introduction which he and his sister, Lois Unbehagen, have used to notify fire departments along his route of his pending arrival.
“I’d go up to them (fire departments) and knock on the door, and they’d let me in,” He said. “We stayed at a couple fire halls along the way, or they made provisions to put me up in a hotel. … In Orofino, Idaho, I was met by a police escort.”
And when he came home for his short stay — his wedding anniversary is next week — the Kentwood Fire Department was welcoming and supportive as well.
“When we heard about Ken’s journey, we felt it was important to help provide a warm welcome home,” Kentwood Fire Chief Brent Looman said to WKTV. “Jakob’s father is a firefighter and adjusts his schedule to care for his son. We know first-hand how the fire service is a deeply rewarding, yet demanding vocation. Being there to welcome Ken back to his hometown was the least we could do to show our support for the family.”
It is all about family
Supporting family — specifically son Jason and daughter-in-law Sue, Jakob’s parents — is the driving force behind Ken Smith’s journey. Jason is a firefighter in London, Ontario, Canada.
“At Christmas time (2017) I said (to Jason) ‘What happens if something happens to you?’ He said the biggest challenge they’d have is for a care provider. An emergency care provider. And for speech therapy. … (Jakob, now 16 years old) was supposed to die at the age of two, that is what the neurologist said. They said he’d never speak, never walk. Well, he does walk, but he doesn’t speak. And so he needs speech therapy as well. He just turned 16. But if anything happens …”
“I just had this idea at Christmas time, I said, ‘Well, I’m going to raise funds. What I am going to do is I’m going to ride my bike from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It was an old bucket list, a thing I wanted to do,” Ken Smith said. So far he has travelled about 2,500 miles in 38 days and “I got another 800, 900, a thousand miles to go.”
With every mile, though, front and center on his mind is Jakob.
“He’ll never know, but all the time I think about him,” Smith said, fighting back tears as he spoke. “You have no idea, as I went across the country, people who said ‘My son, my daughter, my sister, my brother, somebody has the same kind of condition. And what your doing is going to touch people.’ I had his picture there all the time. And I will say that not one time during the trip did I say ‘I wish this thing was over.’ The only thing I did say was ‘I wish this day was over.’ ”
And as far as making his $30,000 goal?
“Those funds are earmarked for his care … I am nowhere near that. But I believe the Lord is in control and what will happen will happen.”
The City of Kentwood ordered the 2018 Spartan Metro Star pumper last year to replace a 2002 pumper nearing retirement. (Supplied)
City of Kentwood
The Kentwood Fire Department recently acquired a new fire engine that will allow firefighters to provide leading-edge fire suppression and emergency medical services.
The City of Kentwood ordered the 2018 Spartan Metro Star pumper last year to replace a 2002 pumper nearing retirement. Built by Charlotte-based Spartan Motors, Inc., the new fire engine will be housed in Fire Station 1, on Walma Avenue, and is slated to be in service soon.
“As part of our regularly scheduled replacements of emergency vehicles, this new engine is a further investment in the safety of Kentwood residents,” said Kentwood Fire Chief Brent Looman. “It will serve as the new main engine at this station.”
The apparatus is equipped with a 450-horsepower clean-diesel engine and a 500-gallon water tank with a foam system. The foam system is used in firefighting to deliver environmentally safe fire-retardant foam to extinguish fires or protect unburned areas.
Additionally, the vehicle is equipped with more than 2,000 feet of fire hose, a 1,500 gallon-per-minute pump and life-saving medical equipment. The new engine cost $491,000 and is expected to be in operation for 10 years or longer.
The Kentwood Fire Department was involved in every step of acquiring the new vehicle, from writing the specs to final delivery. The meticulous process began in earnest with the design. The Fire Department ensured the truck was built using the same parts as other vehicles in the fleet, which is critical for firefighter safety and streamlined maintenance.
After the cab was built, it was transported to Spartan’s sister facility in South Dakota, where the body of the vehicle was built. Looman himself inspected everything from the lug nuts to the lights.
“The inspection is a crucial step in the process that ensures the truck is built to our specifications,” Looman said. “Spartan Motors built a solid vehicle that will allow us to continue to serve our community for years to come.”
More information about Kentwood Fire Department is available online, visit here.
Kentwood Fire Department annual report highlights funding, manpower, emergency calls
Kentwood Fire Department Chief Brent J. Looman presented, and the City Commission accepted, the department’s 2017 annual report at the commission’s April 9 regular meeting, with highlights including funding, manpower and last year’s emergency calls.
School News Network: Wyoming Public Schools selects one of its own for top spot
“Dream big, work hard and make it happen”: That’s the mantra of Craig Hoekstra, a familiar face in the district, who this week was selected as the new superintendent.
Kentwood Public Works Department oversees the city’s recycling center.
The City of Kentwood is sponsoring a Community Clean-Up Day for residents wanting to spring clean their homes and yards. The Community Clean-Up Day, scheduled for Saturday, May 5, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., will allow residents to bring general debris, gently used items for donation, household hazardous materials and electronic devices to be recycled.
May is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Children can have mental health challenges just as adults can. As a matter of fact, over 2 million children in Michigan experience mental health challenges such as ADHD, anxiety and depression.
Employment in the Digital Age — free computer literacy workshops available
West Michigan Works! is now offering a free workshop to help individuals gain basic computer skills. Computer Literacy helps attendees become comfortable using a computer, accessing the internet and using email — all of which can help you find, apply and qualify for a new job.
A $115,000 grant may have given the Kentwood Fire Department an edge in saving a life.
The LUCAS Chest Compression System
The Kentwood Fire Department recently received a big hand with the help of LUCAS.
The 2014 FEMA Assistance to Firefighter grant – which totaled $114,949 – was used to purchase four LUCAS chest compression devices. These devices are designed to allow CPR to be done without human help, outside the first initial 15 – 20 seconds it take to set up the device
“The LUCAS devices will be a great asset to the Kentwood Fire Department and the community,” said Kentwood Fire Department Deputy Chief Greg Ginebaugh. “Having the LUCAS CPR device allows more time for airways to be made on the patient, as well as starting IV’s and completing all other needs on the patient.”
The idea for the CPR assisted mechanical device derived back in 1991 by Norwegian paramedic Willy Vistung. Years later, the first LUCAS was created and has since progressed throughout the years.
The LUCAS device is used during pre-hospital treatments, in-hospital treatments, and even percutaneous coronary intervention (also known as a PCI, a non-surgical procedure used to open narrow or blocked coronary arteries). LUCAS is equipped with 10 accessories that allow it to work to its full function.
It takes a maximum of 20 seconds to set up and adjust LUCAS correctly on a patient. LUCAS is intended to save time for first responders to help in other areas the patient may need, or lack assistance, during manual CPR.
Manual (human to human) CPR requires first responders to rotate performing CPR on the patient every two minutes. Since CPR can sometimes last up to 30 minutes, the availability of a LUCAS can save precious time for help in other areas.
As of right now the Kentwood Fire Department has four LUCAS devices. There are three fire stations with four primary vehicles and one LUCAS device is placed in each vehicle. There are currently no future plans to receive additional LUCAS devices.
The Kentwood Fire Department will be receiving a nice little gift from Congress thanks to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters grant program. These grants help fun professional training programs, update equipment and facilities, and provide new supplies to help first-responders handle hazard efficiently and effectively.
U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters announced that the Kentwood Fire Department would be receiving $114,949 to help improve its operations and boost safety in the community.
“Our firefighters put their lives on the line every day to keep our families, homes and communities safe,” said Senator Stabenow. “These new resources will help the Kentwood Fire Department safely protect their community.”
Senator Peters added, “First responders are on the front lines when emergencies strike in their communities, and it is important they have the resources needed to protect themselves. With these funds, firefighters in Kentwood can be better equipped to make their neighborhood a safer place to live.”
The Assistance to Firefighters Grand program is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
