WINNING NARRATIVE 2004



The XYZ Volunteer Fire Department serves the rural town and community of XYZ, Minnesota. We are located in XXX County which is about 250 miles northwest of St. Paul / Minneapolis.

The project that you are requesting to be funded.
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After a comprehensive risk assessment of our community structure and departmental needs through a review of incident frequencies, types and outcomes, along with open forums with individual firefighters, a serious problem became readily apparent. The XYZ Volunteer Fire Department lacks the necessary communications equipment to provide basic emergency response services without seriously jeopardizing the safety of our firefighting personnel. We are seeking $29,658 for the purchase of:

-One Base Radio Unit
-Four Mobile Radio Units
-Twenty One Pagers and Charging Units
-Two Handheld Radio Units

This equipment will promote interoperability with neighboring communities and is necessary for the safety of our firefighters and also for the protection of the population that we serve.

A new communications system is necessary for the safety of our volunteer firefighters. Our system currently in use originates from purchases made in the 1970’s and is out of compliance with O.S.H.A. 1910.156 and N.F.P.A. 1221 and 1201 standards.

Our base station radio cannot relay outgoing messages to any of the mobile radios and only two of our four vehicles have radios that can transmit messages to the station. Currently only 10 of our 20 firefighters have pagers and chargers. We do not have any type of communications equipment to implement incident management practices.

The goal of our fire department is to equip the fire station as well as each mobile unit with a radio that works, equip our entire 20 members with pagers and recharging units and to facilitate incident management practices with the use handheld radios.


How you plan to use the grant funds for each major budget activity as listed on the budget form.
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We plan to purchase communications equipment.

Base Station Radio Unit
Astro Spectra – Consolette 45 Watt Control Base -------- 1 at $4,755 ------ $4,755

Mobile Units
Spectra Astro 45 Watt Mobile Unit ---------- 4 at $3,081 --------- $12,324

Pagers and Chargers
Minitor IV Pagers w/ charging stations --------- 21 at $378 each -------- $7,938

Handheld Radios
XTS 5000 Handheld Radio ---------- 2 at $2,968 each ---------- $5,936

Installation and Programming
Installation and Programming ---------- 1 at $2,000-------$2,000

Total --------- $32,953
Matching Funds ----------$3,295
Grant Request ----------$29,658


Why this program would be beneficial to your community and/or your department.
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By receiving this grant and this equipment we can remove the cause of the conditions and problems which are negatively affecting our ability to provide mission critical services.

Our primary response area of 106 square miles is predominately an agricultural community including a multitude of farm operations and agribusinesses. Our department also provides mutual assistance to four neighboring communities. We are home to The XXX County Elementary School with a student enrollment of 209 children between the ages of 5 and 13. Our primary response area has a population of 579 individuals, consisting of 238 households, with 25.7% under the age of 18 and 20.9% over the age of 65.

All residents of the community and the students of the elementary school will directly benefit from this equipment with quicker emergency response times and an increased number of responding firefighters participating at each incident scene.

The XYZ Volunteer Fire Department has 20 active firefighters, with approximately 10 firefighters responding to each call. New pagers will dramatically increase awareness and response to calls of service. Our personnel will directly benefit from increased firefighter safety through the reduction of risk of injury from fatigue due to an increased number of responders.

21 pagers and chargers are being requested so there is an extra one on hand should a firefighter’s pager and charger become nonfunctional.

The handheld units will allow communications on scene providing more effective incident management and safety to all personnel.

Contracting programming and installation services will ensure that the correct operational settings and frequencies are used to provide peak performance from this equipment.

Through interoperability achieved from the base radio and mobile units our department and the surrounding mutual aid departments will directly benefit from the ability of the departments to respond to each others calls for additional assistance.


All of this will greatly enhance our ability to respond to all types of hazards and remove the condition that negatively affects XYZ Volunteer Fire Department, dramatically increasing the success of mission critical services.

Why this project cannot be funded solely through local funding.
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The XYZ Volunteer Fire Department receives a small annual budget from the City of XYZ to work with. This revenue is allocated for use in paying our departments operating expenses such as fuel, utilities and maintainence. It does not include money for equipment expenditures.

We seek other sources of revenue through various annual fund raising events such as; Thanksgiving Turkey Bingo, Concessions Stands and a Firefighter's Dance. These events are all reliant on the generosity of local residents. As with most rural areas, The XYZ Volunteer Fire Department is experiencing a declining population due to the migration of our younger generation to urban areas to find jobs, leaving the major percentage of our residents to be children under 18 and senior citizens.

In the past local community and civic organizations have committed themselves to our fire departments fund raising projects with monetary contributions to ensure the safety of the area of which they have members. The City of XYZ has committed to the 10% required match to fund this equipment purchase.

Any additional relevant information that you would like us to consider when evaluating your application.
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Future standards for communication equipment on the federal and state level will require digital capabilities of all fire department electronics to facilitate interoperability and incident management. All the radios and pagers to be purchased are APCO 25 compliant, offering the flexibility for the future needs and requirements for digital services.

The XYZ Volunteer Fire Department would like to express our gratitude for your interest in preserving the continuity of our rural way of life.

Thank You for your consideration,
The XYZ Volunteer Fire Department