Elizabeth VFD gets grants for new search equipment

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

The Elizabeth Volunteer Fire Company is on its way toward having a state-of-the-art river search and rescue operation.

Three grants totaling $76,500 will be used to purchase a side-scan sonar system to help with river searches. It can help to look for a drowning victim, such as last fall’s search for a missing teen, or to find a stolen vehicle or a weapon used in a crime.

The bulk of the money — a grant of $49,000 — will come from U.S. Steel. Mike Rhoades, manager of the Mon Valley Works Clairton Plant, said fire Chief Chad Rager presented a good case for the need for the imaging equipment.

“Supporting the local community is important to U.S. Steel,” Rhoades said. “This project, because of the benefit to all the Mon Valley, seemed like a worthy project.”

Rager said the department had discussed upgrading its search capabilities before the disappearance last fall of Jefferson Hills teen Jeno Moretti. 

Elizabeth Borough River Coordinator and fire department safety officer Wayne Lewis said the search crew from Charles County, Md., Search and Rescue had the best equipment used in the search. The Maryland department used side scan radar, which emphasized the need to get the equipment as soon as possible. 

“Instead of spending 10 days searching the river, we’ll be spending one day before we can let a family know what has happened to their loved one,” Rager said.

Additional funds for the project are coming from the McKeesport Foundation, which gave the fire department $25,000, and $2,500 from Noble Environmental. Rager said the money will be used to purchase the sonar equipment and a trailer with computer equipment that will be used as the land-based command post for the river searchers using the sonar.

“It’s all one project,” Rager said. “We’ll have it all by the summer months.”

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