Breathing should be a little bit easier for firefighters with the Cortez Fire Protection District.

The department recently learned that it was awarded a $284,050 grant to replace the firefighters’ self-contained breathing apparatus, allowing them to breath easier in dangerous situations and the department to breath easier because they won’t have to pay for the costly devices.

The grant was part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and will allow the fire department to replace their self-contained breathing packs.

“They use them any time they enter a toxic atmosphere,” said Charles Balke, Cortez Fire Protection District assistant fire chief.

The packs, Balke explained, are very important and have to be functioning properly.

“We’ve been facing operational issues with our current packs,” Balke said.

The packs the firefighters use now are 10 years old.

“Ten years doesn’t seem like a long time, but when you are exposing them to 1,100-degree temperatures, that takes a toll,” he said.

This is the first AFG grant awarded to the Cortez Fire Protection District.

The packs typically cost $6,500 to $7,200 apiece. The grant should allow the department to purchase about 40, one for each available seat on the fire engines.

The department will accept bids for the packs and hopes to have them delivered by the end of the year.

“We are not going to have the concern about the functionality of our packs anymore,” Balke said. “This will allow us to do our jobs more efficiently. We could not have bought these without this grant.”