INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Wayne Township Fire Department will begin using at least 40 bulletproof vests and helmets by September.

They will join other first responders receiving the 20-pound vests through a federal grant.

Division Chief Troy Wyner said, “In the last year, over 3,500 first responders, EMS (emergency medical services) and firefighters were injured at the scene of a medical incident by violence. Whether it was shot, stabbed, assaulted, kicked, bitten, all those types of things, 3,500 of those people were actually hospitalized.”

“A lot of times just routine incidents that we’re on sometimes turn violent whether it’s because of a misunderstanding of the information, misinformation, or just circumstances that are way out of our control,” Wyner said.

“They’re certain instances — SWAT incidents that we may be doing a standby for, widespread civil unrest, active shooter, active threat environments — (where) we’re wearing the vest and ballistic protection is mandatory,” Wyner added.