Sandwich Fire Receives Grant to Staff East Sandwich Station

COURTESY OF THE SANDWICH FIRE DEPARTMENT: The Station 2 Firehouse on Route 6A in East Sandwich.

SANDWICH – The Sandwich Fire Department has been awarded funding to bring on eight more firefighters.

The Department has been awarded a $1.2 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Repsonse grant through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The grant will be used to staff the East Sandwich fire station on Route 6A.

The funding will allow the department to recruit, hire and retain the firefighters for two years.

“The eight additional firefighters will provide the town with the proper coverage for fires and EMS calls, and decrease response times to East Sandwich,” said Fire Chief William Carrico in a release.

Selectmen will have 30 days to review the grant award and accept it or reject it.

“Right now our minimum staffing is at seven, and you can’t safely staff a third station with that scenario, so our only option is to get some additional people,” said Carrico.

Residents at town meeting in the spring approved upgrades for the East Sandwich fire station but rejected funding an additional $750,000 to staff the facility.