Council approves grants

The Burbank Fire and Police departments will boost their preparedness

for disasters and terrorist events with federal grant money

unanimously approved by the City Council on Tuesday night.

The $860,000 in two grants from the Department of Homeland

Security would be used for training, equipment and planning for

emergency operations.

Training in hazardous materials and urban search and rescue will

take Fire Department personnel to Alabama, New Mexico and Nevada,

interim Fire Chief Tracy Pansini said.

“With an airport in town and our joint response agreement with

Pasadena for the Rose Bowl and with Glendale for the Galleria, our

major threat is some type of dispersal device with a slight nuclear

component,” Pansini said. “This training brings the hazmat team and

urban search and rescue team to the national level, where it should

be.”

The grants will also cover the cost of filling firefighter

positions for the firefighters who are at the training, Pansini said.

The $236,000 homeland security grant is administered by Los

Angeles County with funds going to all municipalities within the

county’s borders.

The $624,000 Urban Areas Security Initiative Grant is specific for

urban areas and administered by the city of Los Angeles.

“The theory is that urban areas are more susceptible to terrorist

events than small areas,” Burbank Fire Administrative Officer

Jennifer Kaplan said.

The grants are useful because they allow for equipment and

training that might not otherwise be afforded through the city

budget, Police Deputy Chief Larry Koch said.

A mobile license plate reader will be the main piece of new

equipment to be purchased with the Police Department’s portion of the

money, Koch said.

From the two grants, the department will receive just less than

$400,000.

The reader scans license plate numbers of passing vehicles and

compares the number with a database to allow the department to find

stolen vehicles or people with outstanding warrants more quickly,

Koch said.

“Knowing how this technology has been used in other states and

other countries, it has had spectacular results,” Koch said. “What

really helps is the speed. It’s just so fast with how it reads.”

The Police Department has used previous federal grant money to

purchase chemical masks and suits for officers to wear in the event

of a low-level threat, Koch said.

The department also receives ongoing intelligence from the

Department of Homeland Security, and its officers and other city

employees are more watchful of government buildings and facilities

and the Bob Hope Airport, Koch said.

“Everybody is made aware of what could be a potential target,”

Koch said.