A federal grant will enable Ashland Fire and Rescue to upgrade breathing equipment and provide health screenings for all of its firefighters.

Ashland Fire and Rescue announced the $365,181 award Monday from the Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Without this grant, due to Ashland’s tight budget, the department would have struggled to update its outdated equipment, according to a statement put out by Ashland Fire and Rescue.

The breathing equipment — called self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA — consists of air tanks carried on packs worn by firefighters, with face pieces to prevent breathing super-heated air or smoke filled with toxic chemicals, according to the statement.

The packs include an alarm system for fallen or trapped firefighters. Connections allow firefighters to aid each other by hooking into another breathing pack, supplying air from a full tank to one running low.

“We’re incredibly grateful for this funding. Keeping our people safe and healthy is the highest priority, because without them we can’t help you,” Fire Chief Ralph Sartain said in the release.

The FEMA grant also will make it possible for every Ashland firefighter to undergo health screenings for work-related diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. During the Almeda Fire, much of Ashland Fire and Rescue’s workforce was exposed to potentially toxic smoke.

The health examinations include a comprehensive physical exam, along with blood, fitness and imaging tests.

The International Association of Fire Fighters and Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association issued a joint statement earlier this year advising members of the adverse health risks associated with firefighter turnout gear — not only because the gear comes in contact with dangerous chemicals from smoke and burning buildings, but also because the gear is made with materials suspected to cause health problems.

A multiyear study released by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in 2016 involving nearly 30,000 firefighters from the Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco fire departments found higher rates of cancer diagnoses, cancer deaths and certain types of cancers than the general population, including digestive, oral, respiratory and urinary cancers.

Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at mrothborne@rosebudmedia.com or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.