SALISBURY, Md.- The Salisbury Fire Department has a new line of defense. With the help of local donations, the department was able to purchase 50, bright red bullet proof vests in a range of sizes.
Fire Chief Rob Frampton says this effort has been long in the making.
“Six or 8 months ago the department received over $70,000 in donated grant money from the Community Foundation and from several donors through them,” said Frampton. “We had requested through our normal budget process for three or four years to get ballistic vest and it was just always some thing that was pushed back, put on the back burner was never fully funded.”
Frampton says this donation made all of the difference.
“This donation from the Community Foundation allowed us to be able to purchase the necessary vest to equipped every riding position in the city and in the department with a ballistic vest that is appropriately sized and appropriately fits them,” said Frampton.
Frampton says this delivery was a relief amid the increase in violence.
“We had just a few events throughout the year and now it’s I would say on a weekly basis, we’re hearing stories of our providers being threatened, abused in a certain way. We’re having the potential that a patient is then found to have a gun, they might not have pulled it or brandished it on our employees but police get there do a search and find out the patient had a gun on them the entire time,” said Frampton. “And our people up until now have been unprotected those types of weapons.”
Frampton said other incidents have involved EMS providers being attacked in the back of ambulances, or patients punching out windows during the drive to the hospital.
“Our employees often end up in harms way, without even knowing, said Frampton.
Frampton says this delivery has been a relief for the department.