Arlington Fire District Recieves Grant from Actor Denis Leary’s Foundation

A Hudson Valley fire department has received a huge grant from a big celeb.

The Arlington Fire District announced that they were awarded a grant recently from the Leary Firefighter Foundation. The grant of $13,500 is for FAST equipment, which will not only be used in Arlington but when they "respond mutual aid to our neighbors as their FAST Team."

On the district's Facebook page they explained what a FAST Team does, writing:

FAST Teams are specialized teams of firefighters who stand ready at structure fires and other incidents to immediately rescue a firefighter who becomes injured, trapped or disoriented during a fire.

The Denis Leary Foundation may sound familiar as it was founded by the actor Denis Leary. The Leary Firefighters Foundation is the only organization in America that "funds equipment, vehicles, education, training, and technology for firefighters nationwide" according to their website.

The actor created the organization back in the year 2000 in response to a tragic fire that took the life of his cousin, a childhood friend, and 4 other firefighters in Worcester, Massachusetts. In a statement on the Leary Foundation website, which can be found at LearyFirefighers.org, Leary writes:

Firefighters never go on strike. As a result, they are often an easy target for government budget cuts.

 

This is where The Leary Firefighters Foundation steps in.

We help these heroes by building state-of-the-art training facilities, buying cutting-edge vehicles and supplying modern technology and tools to firehouses and departments across the country.

 

Such equipment not only saves the lives of these brave men and women but increases the odds that they can save ours.

Denis Leary is most known for his role in the FX drama-comedy Rescue Me. Leary played New York City firefighter Tommy Gavin.