San Jose donates $1M in safety equipment to Ukrainian first responders
SAN JOSE – San Jose officials announced Thursday that the city will donate more than $1 million in safety equipment to first responders in Ukraine.
The city plans to send 373 self-contained breathing apparatus air packs, 600 mask-mounted regulators, 183 air cylinders and several hundred self-contained breathing apparatus masks to the relief organizations Nova Ukraine and Firefighter Air Ukraine.
The two organizations will then disperse the equipment to firefighters and first responders across Ukraine as the country continues battling the invading Russian military.
"This is a country that critically needs our support and our help," San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said Thursday at a briefing to announce the equipment donation. "And I'm grateful that San Jose can play some small role in that effort."
The equipment will come from the San Jose Fire Department, according to the city. Self-contained breathing apparatuses are often used to protect firefighters from toxic smoke.
According to Nova Ukraine, firefighters in the country are currently working to extinguish hundreds of fires each day.
"(Firefighters) have committed our lives to helping others, oftentimes at great personal risk," said SJFD Assistant Chief James Williams. "We know our fellow firefighters in Ukraine are facing dire circumstances as we speak."
Information about how to donate to Ukrainian relief organizations can be found at https://www.cidi.org/disaster-responses/war-in-ukraine/ and https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/ukraine.
"More than anything, organizations like Nova Ukraine need dollars," Liccardo said. "Dollars that can immediately be put to use to deliver what is most critically needed, whether it's food or material or other support. So we encourage everyone in our community to please give generously."
