PORT TOWNSEND — Port Ludlow firefighters will be able to breathe easier, thanks to a $15,000 donation from the Gammill Family Foundation.
In December the family foundation, represented by Port Ludlow resident Shawna Gammill-Matthews, presented Port Ludlow Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Brad Martin with a donation of $15,000.
“We are exceptionally grateful to [Shawna] Gammill-Matthews and her family’s foundation for this donation, Martin said.
“It has been a lifesaver,” he said of the family foundation’s six-year tradition of large cash donations to the fire department.
Martin said in recent tight economic times the fire department’s budget has been challenging, and the donations have enabled the department to continue being able to purchase the items it needs to be safe and effective.
A portion of the funds are used for a fund that provides fire detectors and batteries for residents who don’t have access to them, and equipment the department needs but cannot fit in its budget, he said.
Gammill-Matthews could not be reached for comment Monday.
This year, the money from the donation will be used to purchase gas detectors, a breathing tube tool and new breathing hoses.
The gas detectors are used by firefighters on first-out engines for carbon monoxide monitoring and confined space air monitoring.
Additionally, Martin said the district will purchase a special camera-mounted tool used to place breathing tubes in emergency medical patients.
The department plans to purchase 10 buddy breathing hoses, safety devices that cost about $300 each, and new air packs with National Fire Protection Association-certified pouches that will be mounted on the air packs to store the hoses.
The hoses are used to enable firefighters whose air packs are somehow disabled to share with others, Martin said.
In 2014, a portion of that year’s $15,000 donation from the foundation was used to purchase state-of-the-art portable radios that are just now being distributed to firefighters, Martin said.
The radios have sound-cancelling technology that can filter out the noise of fire engines, saws, fans, and other equipment so that firefighters can be more easily understood while responding to an emergency, he said.
Gammill-Matthews’ father, Kennoth Gammill, created the first long-arm quilting machine in the late 1970s.
He sold the business in 2003, but remains active in the company.
The Gammill Family foundation is based in Missouri, where the company that makes the Gammill quilting machine is located.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
