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The Bartlesville Fire Department (BFD) will receive a $50,438 Department of Homeland Security grant.

According to the City of Bartlesville’s “City Beat,” the grant will provide additional training for Bartlesville firefighters. It will help firefighters in surrounding communities, too.

Fire Chief David Topping says the grant will provide training for all incident command staff to improve command efficiency in emergency incidents.

In a statement to City Beat, Topping said:

"This grant will provide critical incident training for Bartlesville firefighters and, in turn, will help other departments outside our community. Eighteen of our guys will receive the training and themselves become trainers, which will allow us to perpetuate the training not only for newer personnel as people in our department retire, but also for firefighters from other departments in our area."

Topping said the shared training is important to ensure that everyone is using the same procedures during a critical incident.

"We assist several volunteer departments in our area when needed, so being able to ensure that we are all doing things the same way is very important," he said. "So this is a good thing for us as well as our community partners."

As a condition of the grant, the City is required to contribute non-federal funds equal to or greater than 10 percent of the federal funds awarded, or $5,043, for a total approved budget of $55,482. The Bartlesville City Council approved acceptance of the grant on Monday.