WEST SPRINGFIELD – On July 31, it was announced that the Town of West Springfield would receive $40,909 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program for the purchase of five thermal imaging cameras.

The thermal imaging cameras don’t see light the way traditional cameras do. They “see” heat signatures, West Springfield Fire Lt. CJ Bartone explained to Reminder Publishing.

“It will help us in multiple aspects. The first thing most people think of – it will help us locate victims. It will also help us in dark, smoky situations where we can’t see the source of the fire,” Bartone said. He also said it can be used to detect heat from hazardous materials.

Bartone continued, “When the majority of the fire is out, it helps us locate smoldering hotspots behind a wall that we just can’t see,” such as in the case of a kitchen fire. “In years passed, we might have had to rip apart some of the sheetrock to check. Now we can see it with the cameras.”

All frontline fire department trucks will have the cameras, Bartone said.

“This device has become another piece of safety equipment that our firefighters can use,” he said.

FEMA is distributing a total of $59 million in direct assistance grants to 392 fire departments across the country through the Fiscal Year 2019 AFG program. The grants pay for equipment and training for local fire departments, fire districts, EMS organizations, tribal fire departments and State Fire Training Academies.

Other Massachusetts fire departments that were awarded funds from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program include:

• Barre – $82,762 for vehicle extrication equipment

• Beverly – $165,909 for portable and mobile radios

• Brewster – $28,950 for vehicle extrication equipment

• Canton – $103,091 for wellness and fitness equipment

• Chelsea – $315,152 for hazardous materials training

• Eastham – $47,714 for an air compressor – air refill system

• Falmouth – $194,182 for two power stretchers, two ambulance power load systems, and an air compressor system

• Gardner – $248,182 for firefighter breathing apparatus

• Onset fire district, Wareham – $69,856 for an air compressor-air refill system

• Quincy – $104,482 for firefighter personal escape systems and firefighter training

• Rockland – $ 67,120 for active shooter – mass casualty training

• Scituate – $60,000 for seven thermal imaging cameras

• Seekonk – $42,857 for five thermal imaging cameras

• Sherborn – $140,000 for firefighter breathing apparatus

• Somerville – $254,840 for hazardous materials training

• Tewksbury – $43,551 for fire instructor training

• Topsfield – $11,333 for seven automatic cardiac defibrillators

• Truro – $134,268 for two power stretchers and two ambulance power load systems

• Waltham – $328,587 for fire officer training

• Warwick – $80,000 for firefighter breathing apparatus

• Westwood – $56,190 for a firefighter wellness and fitness program

• Wilbraham – $128,571.43 for three power stretchers and three stretcher-ambulance load systems

• Wrentham – $91,428 for a fire sprinkler system for the headquarters station

• Yarmouth – $112,727 for vehicle extrication equipment

For more information about FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters grant program, visit www.fema.gov/firegrants.