WINNING NARRATIVE 2003



The XXX Fire Department is located in the City of XXX, in XXX County in Minnesota, which is about XXX miles Northwest of Minneapolis and St. Paul and about XXX miles east of the Minnesota and North Dakota border.  The XXX Fire District is in a very rural area with a large senior population and a declining overall population.

 
Please describe in full the project that you are requesting to be funded.
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 The XXX Fire Department is seeking $157,380.00 for the purchase of Structural Fire Gear, Wildland Fire Gear, Individual SCBA’s and Integrated PASS Devices, Jaws of Life, Two-Way Radios, IRIS, and a Automatic Electronic Defibrillator.  This equipment and gear is necessary for the safety of our firefighters and also for the protection of the population that we serve.

 Our need for Structural Fire Gear is necessary for our volunteers because our equipment that we are currently using is out of compliance with O.S.H.A. and N.F.P.A. standards.  Twenty of our members have full sets of gear, most of the sets of gear are ten years old  and are using 25+ year old high boots that have been cut down to work with our gear.  Two members are using long coats and high boots that are 25+ years old.  The goal of our department is to properly gear our entire 22 members with gear that is fit for each individual and meets current standards so that no member has any reservations as to the personal protection capabilities of their gear.

 Our need for Wildland Fire Gear is equally necessary. We try to wear our structural gear but more often than not we go in our street clothes unprotected.  The problem with our structural gear is the weight of the gear along with the nature of a wildland fire that requires being mobile and fast moving, and the structure gear puts us at risk of heart attacks and exhaustion.  In our jurisdiction we have more than 6,000 acres of CRP, more than 4,000 acres of wildlife management area, and 18 miles of the XXXX River Valley runs throughout our jurisdiction.  Because of the large amount of wildland in our area it is important that our firefighters are properly outfitted.

 The SCBAs and Integrated PASS devices are necessary because of O.S.H.A.’s 1910.134 Respiratory Standard for personal hygiene and fit testing.  Because the scope of firefighting now includes being called out to meth labs and many types of infectious diseases the SCBA personal protection is more important than before.  The PASS device also makes firefighters more aware of their situation and gives other department members the ability to help a firefighter in distress.  These devices also become more valuable with the ever-growing threat of bioterrorism.

 The Jaws of Life are needed due to the ever increasing duties of local fire departments.  We annually are called to accidents where we need to call for mutual aid to assist in the removal of victims because we don’t have our own Jaws of Life.  The whole process requires us to make a request for mutual aid, then the neighboring fire department gathers members and then they respond.  This process adds about 10 to 15 minutes before a victim can be removed from the vehicle.  These 10 to 15 minutes are a very critical time to an accident victim.  Our fire district has four major highway intersections and a major Canadian Pacific railway within its borders.  These areas create many situations where the Jaws of Life are needed in this fire department.

 Communication equipment is another need of our fire department to solve interoperability problems.  We currently have 2 two-way radios that are at least 12 years old and not compatible with all our surrounding fire departments and medical providers.  We would like to have a radio for each of our seven officers so that the chain of command is always in communication at a scene and that we have communication abilities with our surrounding fire departments and medical provider.

 The IRIS device is a new technology that we need in out department.  Annually we have structural fires that we use our structural gear and SCBAs and are unable to see due to the smoke.  The IRIS would aid us in these situations by giving us the ability to see in a structural fire, avoid dangerous situation and provide a way to rescue people trapped in a fire.  It could also aid in rescue of a down firefighter.

 Our need for a AED is to update a 12 year old model with a new model that is to be compatible with our local medical provider to solve interoperability problems.   It is important that we get our AED onto a victim as quick as we can to monitor and then when our local ambulance service shows up we can simply disconnect our AED at the terminals on the pads and the ambulance service can then hook theirs up and maintain the patient’s care.

 

How you plan to use the grant funds for each major budget activity as listed on the budget form
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 Structural Gear:
Helmet-------------$225.00
Hood-----------------$30.00
Coat-----------------$665.00
Pants----------------$490.00
Gloves----------------$45.00
Boots----------------$145.00
Sub Total----------$1,600.00---X---22--=--$35,200.00

 
Wildland Gear:
Coverall----------------$225.00
Gloves--------------------$40.00
Sub Total----------------$265.00---X---22--=--$5,830.00  

 
SCBA with PASS:
SCBA with Integrated PASS-----------$3,600.00---X---18--=--$64,800.00

 
Jaws of Life:
Jaws of Life----------------$22,000.00

 
Communication Equipment:
Two Way Radios----------------$650.00---X---7--=--$4,550.00

 
IRIS:
IRIS Camera----------------$15,000.00

 
AED Device:
AED Device----------------$10,000.00

 
FEMA Fire Act Grant  ------------------$141,642.00
10% Match-------------------------------$15,738.00
Total------------------------------------$157,380.00

 

Why this program would be beneficial to your community and/or to your department
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The benefits to the XXX Fire Department would be that our volunteers will have compliant personal protection while being able to perform more and safer services to the public than have previously been performed. 

 Having better and compliant equipment that solves interoperability issues also would help in retaining quality members and also aid in the recruiting of quality new members.

 The benefits to the public would be a better, more reliable equipped and a department able to respond to a larger amount of situations involving those that 14 and younger and 65 and older.  The public receives better personal and property protection and the ISO rating is maintained.  In return the cost of insurance is held in control because of a better, properly equipped and properly trained department.

 This application is for purchasing structural fire gear, wildland fire gear, SCBAs with I-PASS for 18 members so each volunteer has their own PPE.  The Jaws of Life will provide a greater level of safety for our firefighters and in turn increase our ability to rescue and save the lives of those citizens we strive to protect.  The radios will to solve interoperability problems and improve communication between the members of department and our mutual aid neighbors. The thermal imaging camera will significantly improve the safety of our firefighters during structural fire calls, and will also impact our ability to rescue those that are 14 and younger as well as those that 65 and older.  The new AED will also impact our ability to save the lives of those that are 14 and younger as well as those that 65 and older, and will solve an interoperability problem with our local medical office.

 The XXX Fire Department serves a community of XXX people and portions of six townships that have a population of 656.  In our fire district is 10 miles of the Canadian Pacific/State Highway 55 corridor, four major intersections, 18 miles of the XXXX River Valley, more than 10,000 acres of CRP and wildlife, and we provide mutual aid to four departments. 

 Two of the mutual aid fire departments that we have agreements with are the county seats and have the largest towns in each of their counties. They are XXX which has a population in excess of 17,000 in their fire area and XXX with a population of about 1,500.  Both of these areas also have school buildings with large numbers of students during the day, both have rail lines that run through them and both contain portions of Interstate Highway 94.

            

Why this project cannot be funded solely through local funding.
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 The XXX Fire Department each year works on a small budget with the Village of XXX and six townships paying for fire protection.  We usually have two fund-raisers per year put on by the volunteers in the department.  But by the time we pay fuel, utilities, and maintenance there is very little left to upgrade.

 The XXX Fire Department, like most other rural area fire departments, is experiencing a declining population, with the largest percentage of the population being in the 60+ year old category, and the younger population migrating to larger communities.  This in turn has a negative impact on the local areas ability to support the fire department and especially trying to keep the equipment within current standards.  We continually lose a little ground each year as we try to replace equipment and the cost of new equipment goes up faster than our budget.

 We have approached the Village of XXX and the townships for assistance to help purchase theses items.  Both the village and townships realize that support is needed and have pledged more than the matching 10% to help fund this grant if we are successful in receiving this grant.

 

Any additional relevant information that you would like us to consider when evaluating your application
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 The XXX Fire Department is seeking FEMA funding to help us get our department properly and with compliant equipped so our volunteers are safe in all the situations we respond, as we respond to assist our citizens. 

 Our department is very dedicated to serving our people and we are the type of department that the FIRE Act is supposed to help.  Eighty percent of the members are also EMTs or First Responders.  Each year, we respond on calls that fall into at least five different categories and with new compliant equipment will help us meet the growing demands on our department.  These demands on our department are increasingly disproportionate to our tax revenues and the resources we possess in a small department. 

 We appreciate your support and would like to express our appreciation for the opportunities this grant program would provide to our department.

     

            Thank You for your consideration.
            XXX Fire Department