Kent County approves $75,000 from contingency to help Chestertown volunteer fire company replace aging air system

Ben Coppage, president of the Chestertown Volunteer Fire Company, told the commissioners that the department's air-cascade system is past recommended service life and now carries a replacement quote of roughly $79,188 (the price, Coppage said, expires at the end of the month). "Our current cascade system is 33 years old," Coppage said, explaining that current storage cylinders exceed manufacturer-recommended service life and that equipment thread and fitting changes have made the existing system vulnerable.

Commissioners discussed grant options and county contingency levels; staff reported $301,824 remained in the contingency balance after earlier allocations. After discussion about fairness to other volunteer companies and the risk to firefighter safety if the unit failed, a motion to allocate $75,000 from the contingency fund to support the Chestertown company's request passed by voice vote. Commissioners said the county will consider a grant-review process to handle similar requests equitably going forward.