New extrication equipment brings lifesaving resources to Sandy Fire Department

Christmas came early for the Sandy Fire Department this year. A grant from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation provided $20,000 worth of extrication equipment that was presented to the department on Dec. 14 at the Firehouse Subs located at 10325 South State Street.

The foundation has provided $3.1 million in grant money to 275 communities since 2005. This year, it made 110 donations in 22 states. Eric Sorenson is the public safety foundation specialist for Firehouse Subs and said giving back to the communities that support the stores is a big part of the restaurant’s mentality.

“It’s in our blood. In a sense, its part of our duty to give back to the communities that are supporting us,” he said. “If customers didn’t come in and eat, we wouldn’t be here and if we weren’t here, a lot of these departments wouldn’t have this type of opportunity to get new equipment because there’s not a lot of money to spread around. It’s an honor to be able to do this.”

Sandy Fireman Richard Lyman was responsible for writing the grant. He said the department just recently found out about the grants available for local agencies. The new extrication equipment replaces the old equipment the department has been using for more than 20 years.

The new equipment is state-of-the-art and much faster than what the department has been using. During a demonstration, Sandy firefighters were able to remove the driver’s side door from a car in less than five minutes with the new equipment.

“Our older equipment isn’t capable of cutting some of the new metals they put in the vehicles. We needed to upgrade our equipment,” Lyman said. “With recent budget cuts, we haven’t had the money to replace it lately. This is a wonderful donation for us and hopefully, it will save some lives.”

Grants range in size from $10,000 to $20,000 and are reviewed by a board with members of fire and police departments.

Sorenson said Firehouse Subs started the foundation after providing food to first responders during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The foundation saw the need to provide money for struggling departments and help get the equipment they needed. Sorenson said as the foundation continues to grow, plans are to increase the size of grants to possibly provide bigger equipment like fire trucks.

“There isn’t a department that doesn’t need something,” he said. “We put the word out that we can maybe provide life saving equipment to first responders through the foundation.”

Working together with the Sandy Fire Department is nothing new for this Sandy Firehouse Subs. Owners Jeff and Heidi Johnson said being able to provide this kind of a gift for the community is one of the things they hoped to accomplish when they started the restaurant.

“Being able to give back and donate the “jaws of life” has come full circle to us,” Jeff Johnson said. “We have very loyal customers that buy the pickle buckets and donate spare change. We’ve always had a great relationship and this donation really solidifies that.”