Belton FD Receives State Award

Belton FD Receives State Award

IMG_0883The Belton Fire Department received the 2020 Fire Safety Award today at the Executive Meeting of the Texas Fire Chiefs Association in College Station. City Manager Sam Listi and Interim Fire Chief Wesley Gilbreath accepted the award.

The award recognized a 2019 safety initiative to lower the risk of fire for hundreds of the most vulnerable residents of Belton by installing smoke detectors and StoveTop FireStops.

In partnership with the Belton Fire Corps, Belton FD installed 488 FireStops, which are devices that extinguish stove fires, and installed or replaced smoke detector batteries in more than 100 residences throughout Belton.

"This recognition of the Belton Fire Department and the Belton Fire Corps is well deserved," Listi said. "It is great complement to the Departments’ Best Practices Recognition received in 2017." 

FireStops have been installed in the kitchens of some of the most vulnerable communities of Belton, including at every non-sprinkled dormitory on the campus of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, residences at the Belton Housing Authority (primarily occupied by elderly citizens), and at the largest low-income apartment complex in the City.

FireStops installed by Belton firefighters extinguished two kitchen fires without incurring any major damage, Gilbreath said.

In a second partnership with the Belton Police Department, the Belton Fire Department recently installed 104 FireStops and provided smoke detector checks in conjunction with the Belton Police Department’s R-U-OK program, which regularly checks in with elderly residents about their welfare.

 A  $24,200 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency helped fund the initiative. The funds, received in 2018, helped purchase 1,000 StoveTop FireStops and 303 smoke detectors.