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PLAINVILLE - When Ted Joubert became Plainville's fire chief two years ago, he resolved to upgrade the department "antiquated" equipment.

The problem was that the small town could not afford all the improvements the department needed.

It approved money for a new fire engine to replace a 26-year-old vehicle, but had no funds for $132,000 worth of new breathing apparatus.

That is where a federal fire safety grant from Homeland Security came in.

The grant allowed the department to buy 21 of the latest breathing packs and a compressor to refill the tanks with air. The packs are a vast upgrade over what Plainville firefighters used to have, Joubert said.

"They were pretty antiquated," he said.

The new ones have lights to signal when a tank is low on air and beepers to help locate firefighters incapacitated while fighting a fire.

"It's like night and day," the chief said as U.S. Rep. James McGovern toured the fire station and got a view of what the federal money had purchased.

Joubert said the town has so many needs and so little money, the safety equipment was beyond what it could afford on its own.

"A department our size with the budget we have, we just don't have the money," he said.

Joubert knew from his past experience as a North Attleboro firefighter how much Plainville needed the equipment.

He said one of his duties as a rookie in North Attleboro 20 years ago was to refill used air tanks from Plainville because Plainville did not have its own compressor.

More than two decades later, nothing had changed when he became chief in Plainville.

For McGovern, fire safety grants are a bit personal. The grant program was created after several Worcester firefighters lost their lives in a 1999 warehouse fire in McGovern's hometown. Worcester firefighters personally lobbied Congress for funding.

McGovern said small towns often cannot afford the latest technology and the grant program is needed to help them out. He said he believes the program is underfunded.

"For everyone who gets a grant, there are other departments that are turned down," he said.

He said even more advanced safety equipment for firefighters is being developed.

Worcester Polytechnical Institute is working on a device that would help firefighters locate another firefighter who has gone down in a fire.

He said some of the firefighters who died in the 1999 blaze were within 100 feet of an exit, but could not find it because of the smoke.

JIM HAND can be reached at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.