The Fayetteville Fire Department is equipping its fire engines and rescue vehicles with 60 automated external defibrillators. Each new AED costs $2,500. The department received a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for $137,000 to purchase the equipment. The city’s cooperative share is $13,700. The new AEDs will replace old ones that are carried on all fire department vehicles.

“In the past five years, Fayetteville firefighters responded to nearly 2,000 cardiac arrest calls,” said Fire Chief Mike Hill. “An AED provides the greatest chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest and is the only effective tool for certain dysrhythmias.”

According to the American Heart Association, early CPR and defibrillation can more than double a victim’s chance of survival. Since 2002, the Fayetteville Fire Department has won more than $1 million from the program, which was established after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.