(Hartford, CT) - U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) announced today a $74,470 federal Fire Prevention and Safety Grant to enable the Stafford Ambulance Association to purchase power lifts for two town ambulances. The power lift will allow emergency responders to lift patients on stretchers directly into the ambulances, saving emergency crews the routine physical stress of lifting patients.

The grant program is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.

“These power lifts will spare emergency responders the routine strain of lifting patients on stretchers into ambulances, removing a daily physical stress and allowing EMS crews to focus their full attention on the safety and health of their patients. Federal Fire Prevention and Safety funds have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to fire and emergency departments throughout the state, helping to purchase life-saving state of the art equipment and to enhance training, improving the safety of all of our communities. Our families and our first responders deserve nothing less,” Murphy, Blumenthal and Courtney said.

“The Stafford Ambulance Association Inc. is thrilled to be receiving this grant from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. This grant will be used to lift patients we care for through new power stretchers and power load systems for our ambulance', and will save us the strain and stress of these routine lifts. We are excited to have this new equipment, and we thank our congressional delegation for the support of these programs,” said Alex Moore, Chief of the Stafford Ambulance Association.

The grant is the 5th firefighting grant awarded in Connecticut for Fiscal Year 2013. Stamford received $1.05 million to hire six additional firefighters through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) and Assistance to Firefighters grant programs administered by FEMA. Orange, Waterbury, Stafford Ambulance Association Inc. and the town of East Hartford also received grants to support operations and safety measures.