When budgets are tight, new equipment for fire departments can sometimes be hard to come by. The newest batch of equipment at Pinehurst and Southern Pines fire departments came thanks to a phone call.

“I got a phone call one day from Mr. (John) Carre,” said Pinehurst Fire Chief Carlton Cole. “We started talking and now we’ve got this new equipment.”

Carre, who lives in the local area, works on behalf of Firefighters Support Services, a non-profit group based in Michigan that specializes in providing departments with life-saving locator devices that can pinpoint the exact location of a downed or lost firefighter in emergency situations.

Carre and another representatives from FFSS, presented the Pinehurst and Southern Pines fire departments with 16 locaters and four hand-held locator screens and four chargers to each department.

The locators are small, pager like devices that hook into the firefighters self-contained breathing apparatus or SCBA. The device turns on when the breathing apparatus is activated.

The locator screens are like hand-held geiger counters or metal detectors that can help pinpoint the location of each firefighter wearing the device.

“It’s a sonar device that will let you know where the firefighter is at all times when they are battling fires,” said Carre, the treasurer of FFSS. “When you point the locator screen in the direction of the firefighter you get a series of beeps.”

The beeps get stronger and louder as the finder gets closer to the locator device.

“These are very good devices that give our firefighters an added safety feature,” Cole said. “On larger fires if we ever have a man down or need to locate a lost man, we will be able to find them.”

The cost of the equipment is estimated at nearly $10,000, said Carre.

“These are high-tech locators,” he said, “and the good thing these devices will help protect the firefighters who take care of this community.”

Both departments said they will implement the devices as soon as all their members have been trained to use the locators.

In addition to providing the locators to firefighters, EMS and paramedics, FFSS provides charitable services for burn victims. This includes both children and adults. The organization provides monetary assistance to cover hospital costs, purchase needed medical supplies for those burn victims once they have been released from the hospital, and help purchase any necessary equipment as well.

Contact Tom Embrey by e-mail at tembrey@thepilot.com.