Kenai City Council will be voting tonight on whether to approve a bulk purchase of breathing equipment for local fire departments.

Resolution 2020-02, if adopted, would authorize the joint purchase of 171 new self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) for the Kenai Fire Department, Nikiski Fire Department and Central Emergency Services. This would replace all of the SCBA packs already in use, according to a memo from Kenai City Fire Chief Jeff Tucker and Public Works Director Scott Curtin.

The total cost of replacing the SCBA packs is $1,094,000, at a cost of $6,400 per pack. On Aug. 27, the City of Kenai was awarded an Assistance to Firefighters Grant to cover the majority of the cost of the SCBA packs, with local agencies responsible for the rest. The grant covers $994,909.09 of the $1,094,000 in federal dollars, which comes through the Department of Homeland Security and is administered by FEMA, leaving a cost of $99,490.91 for the local agencies to cover.

Of the locally covered costs, Kenai Fire will spend $12,218.19 for 21 packs, Nikiski Fire will spend $18,618.19 for 32 packs and Central Emergency Services will spend $68,654.53 for 118 packs, according to the resolution. That comes out to a cost of about $581.82 per pack for local agencies. The non-federal funds were appropriated by the Kenai City Council on Oct. 16, 2019 through Ordinance 3090-2019.

The packs will be purchased from Scott Branded SCBA Equipment through Municipal Emergency Services.