Buckingham Township's Midway Volunteer Fire Company will receive $900,000 from the state to buy a new fire engine. The award is the largest in a $2.9 million grant package that state Sen. Steve Santarsiero and state Rep. Tim Brennan announced Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The money will replace two aging engines. One is 19 years old; the other is 29. Both are past their accepted service life, according to the announcement, and suffer "significant ongoing repairs and downtime."

The legislators' announcement described the current engines as "ultimately unsafe not only for the members as drivers and passengers, but for the community at large."

Midway plans to replace both with a single rescue-engine equipped with a six-person cab, a 1,000-gallon water tank, a 1,500-gallon-per-minute pump and 60 gallons of foam. The new apparatus will also carry supply hose, six preconnected attack lines and space for rescue tools.

"Residents rely on local fire companies to keep them safe, and our fire companies need updated vehicles and tools to do their job …" Santarsiero said in the announcement.

The grant package also directs $300,000 to two local police departments for radio upgrades. Central Bucks Regional Police will receive $150,000 for portable radios serving Doylestown Borough, Chalfont Borough and New Britain Borough. The department's current radios are 12 years old and, according to the announcement, no longer provide a reliable signal, creating safety concerns for officers and the public.

Doylestown Township Police will receive $150,000 for 30 portable handheld radios, a drone and accessories. The department's existing radios are no longer repairable, the announcement stated. The drone will be used for accident-scene reconstruction and crowd surveillance.

A separate $53,802 grant to Solebury Township will fund a utility vehicle outfitted with a fire-suppression and medical-evacuation skid unit. That vehicle will be shared by three fire companies under a mutual aid agreement: Midway, New Hope Eagle and Pt. Pleasant.

Brennan said in the announcement that emergencies do not stop at municipal boundaries and that sharing equipment helps smaller departments respond to crises. "At a time when municipalities are having to make tough financial decisions, these grants are putting new and better resources in firefighters' hands," he said.

All 13 grants in the package are funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development's Local Share Account (LSA) program, which distributes gaming revenue through the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Other recipients include the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center in Buckingham Township ($433,092 for conference-area renovation), Moravian Pottery and Tileworks in Doylestown Borough ($400,000 for radiant floor heating) and the River Crossing YMCA ($425,000 for the Doylestown Skatepark Revitalization Project).

No timeline for delivery of the new Midway engine has been announced.