City gets $40,000 grant for tool to fight oil spills

Vancouver – The city of Vancouver has been chosen to receive $40,000 in grant money from the state’s Department of Ecology, which will be used to purchase a trailer to haul firefighting foam.

Vancouver is one of 11 communities receiving funds primarily intended to reduce the impact of oil spills.

The DOE noted responses to the Tyee Marina fire in Tacoma and the Port Orchard Yacht Club fire last year were efficient because the Yakama Nation had a cache of state-funded spill response equipment stored nearby.

“Not all spill incidents have this good fortune. When an oil spill happens, the nearest response equipment may be hours away,” the DOE said in a release.

Grants totaling $333,500 will provide local agencies with money to purchase not only oil spill response equipment, but other necessary tools for incidents involving hazardous materials and fires.

Grant recipients also include Cowlitz Fire District 1, which received $20,000 for gas detectors and accessories. The Tulalip Tribes will use $30,000 to buy an oil containment boom and a trailer, according to DOE.

Those communities and the others selected to receive the grant money were identified as priorities under the current state budget, according to the DOE.