The lifespan of a rope is about 10 years.
Of course, it depends how much you use it, and how, Chief Buddy Lane with the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue Service said.
The agency, which has around 40 volunteers, received a state grant that allowed it to replace 1,200 feet of worn-out rope for cave and other rescues, Secretary and Treasurer Bill Moore said Friday.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga expects to complete $3M fire training tower in fall)
The state fire marshal’s office gave out more than $1 million in grants to volunteer fire departments and rescue squads in southeastern Tennessee, and officials Friday honored grant recipients during a lunch event at Chattanooga State Community College.
The agencies receiving money will use it to replace aging equipment or add new gear that should help them better respond to fires, crashes, rescues and other emergencies.
Photo Gallery
Volunteer fire departments in southeastern Tennessee receiving grants for gear, equipment
The majority of Tennessee fire departments are staffed by volunteers, Kevin Walters, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, said in a phone call.
In Hamilton County, around 125,000 people are served by volunteer fire departments, county Mayor Weston Wamp said at Friday’s lunch. Funding for those departments “probably will never be enough,” Wamp said.
“The state can’t solve all problems,” Carter Lawrence, the state’s commerce and insurance commissioner, said at the event. “Really what has to happen for the continued maintenance of the volunteer fire departments and fire service broadly is support at the local level.”
(READ MORE: Chattanooga could soon hire first responders living outside Tennessee under new law)
The Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department received around $8,000, which bought it a new hydraulic strong arm that can force open doors. It can also be used for car extractions or to breach security measures like steel bars, Chief Duane Pitts said after being presented the ceremonial big check for the grant. The department covers parts of Collegedale, Ooltewah, Apison and East Brainerd.
“Where it could have its greatest use — in our area we have apartment buildings, dormitories, hotels,” Pitts said. “If we have a fire in there, and we’ve got to get into rooms, it’ll force doors quickly.”
A roughly $41,000 grant to the Niota Rural Volunteer Fire Department, in McMinn County, will go toward new air packs for firefighting and a special extracting washer that can remove contaminants from gear, Chief Travis Newberry said. The washer will replace a household washer and dryer the department had been using and should reduce harmful exposures, Newberry said.
“Cancer is one of the biggest causes of firefighter deaths,” Newberry said at the event. “All the toxins from the smoke absorbs into the gear, and that absorbs into the skin.”
Also in McMinn County, the Englewood Rural Fire Department will use its approximately $45,000 grant for new rescue struts that help with extracting people from cars, Chief Billy Roach said, as well as gear for wildland responses and structural gear to replace equipment past its life expectancy. The struts can stabilize flipped cars.
“We run a lot of medical calls,” Roach said.
In addition to the new rope, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue Service will also put its grant money toward new rope hardware and replacing backpacks, Moore, its treasurer, said.
Eighteen volunteer fire departments and seven rescue squads were honored Friday.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.