WINNING NARRATIVE 2006



PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The XXX Volunteer Fire Department, organized in 1902, is located in the northwester corner of Minnesota. Our primary response area is 106 square miles and consists of a rural farming community with the small town of XXX at its heart. Our department has mutual aid contracts with four surrounding fire departments. Overall, we are part of a mutual aid network made up of 118 active firefighters protecting 9,831 residents and their properties in an area covering 1,032 square miles.

After completing a comprehensive analysis of our current department operations and equipment, a major gap in the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and station equipment at our firefighter¿s disposal has come to our attention. We do not have any NFPA 2002 compliant Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) or access to a compliant air cylinder filling station, both of which are necessary to adequately protect our firefighters, residents and their properties.

Our firefighters have the potential of being called out on residential, commercial, wild land and chemical fires. State Highway 32, a stretch of critical infrastructure, runs directly through our primary response area for seven miles. This dramatically increases the chance of service calls involving gasoline and chemical spills as well as automobile accidents. The equipment we are in need of is critical in providing a safe working environment for our firefighters in every one of these situations.

Our current assortment of SCBA equipment was purchased using grant funds from the MN Department of Natural Resources during the 1970¿s and 1980¿s. Neither the bottles, face pieces nor frames are interchangeable between the packs we currently have in our organization or within our mutual aid network. Most of these packs can no longer be flow tested or updated to current NFPA standards.

Our air cylinders are filled at a nearby mutual aid department which can be over 20 miles away on service calls. Performing any type of operation, that requires refilling air tanks to complete, is out of the question. The driving time needed to do so, raises the risk of injury to our firefighters to an unacceptable level. To make matters worse, the mutual aid department we normally fill at has informed us that their system is no longer compliant with today¿s pollution standards, so we need to look elsewhere for our air tank filling needs.

With our present fleet of vehicles, we can safely bring 10 firefighters to each incident scene (seated positions). All 21 of our active firefighters have been trained on the use and care of SCBA through the course of Firefighter I training. Hands on training for the use of the cascade fill station and new SCBA features will be provided by the vendor that supplies this equipment. Additionally our department will be developing comprehensive training checklists to track each firefighter¿s abilities and certifications. i.e. Each firefighter will have to demonstrate functional knowledge of the cascade fill station by filling two air tanks.

Our project goal is to bring our department into statutory compliance with MN OSHA 190.134 by creating a safe working environment for our firefighters. We can achieve this through the purchase of NFPA 2002 compliant PPE - 10 new SCBA packs with integrated Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS) and 11 additional face masks, and also by purchasing a cascade fill station compliant with today¿s pollution standards.

Our total project cost is $60,340.00: consisting of $38,090 for PPE and $22,250.00 for equipment. We are requesting $57,323.00 from the AFG 2006 with a five percent match of $3,017.00.


FINANCIAL NEED:
The XXX Volunteer Fire Department receives a small annual budget of approximately $6,000.00 from the City of XXX. This revenue is used to pay the department¿s annual operation expenses. Training, fuel, utilities and maintenance totaled over $9,500.00 last year. As you can see our budget does not include or have room for equipment purchases.

To make ends meet, we hold various fund raising events such as: Thanksgiving turkey bingo, concession booths, raffles and dances. These events are reliant on the generosity of the local residents and generate around $3,500.00 per year.

As with most rural areas in Minnesota, over the last decade the population of our community has been decreasing due to the lack of jobs. Our workforce residents, who generally have some expendable income for charitable giving, are moving to more urban and metropolitan areas in search of work. This has left a populace of elderly residents and children who have no income or are on a fixed income with little room for charitable giving.

On a positive note, the City of XXX has committed the five percent match needed if we receive an award to fund this project.


COST / BENEFIT:
The total cost of our project to purchase PPE and equipment is $60,340.00. We are requesting funds of $57,323.00 from the 2006 AFG with a required match of $3,017.00.

In terms of protected lives of the residents and firefighters in our primary and mutual aid response areas, assuming an average equipment life of 15 years, the annual cost to fund this project is $0.41 per person.

PPE - $38,090.00
$36,000.00 ¿ 10 - NFPA 2002 Compliant SCBA units with integrated PASS and spare bottle @ $3,600.00 each
$2,090.00 ¿ 11 ¿ NFPA 2002 Compliant face pieces @ $190.00 each

Within one year of the funding of our department¿s project, we will be in statutory compliance of MN OSHA 190.134 (The Respiratory Protection Standard) and provide a safe working environment to our firefighters. All of our equipment will be compliant with the NFPA 2002 national standard including integrated PASS.

The additional 11 face pieces will allow all of our active firefighters to have their own fit tested face piece. Providing customized protection from on duty pollution sources and reducing the risk of contamination from improperly fitting equipment. This will be completed by the vendor supplying the equipment.

Our department will also benefit from the added interoperability while giving and receiving mutual aid. We will be using equipment that is consistent with surrounding organizations. Interchangeability will no longer be an issue.

EQUIPMENT - $22,250.00
$19,550.00 ¿ Cascade style air tank filling station
$1,500.00 ¿ Shipping costs
$1,200.00 ¿ Training and Installation fees

These funds will allow us to create an area wide tank filling station compliant with today¿s pollution standards. It will be available for use not only by us, but also by all mutual aid departments and all state and local responding agencies. Hands on training will be provided by the vendor supplying this equipment.

The major benefits to our community will include quicker response times and a higher level of protection services from a properly equipped fire department with the ability to safely perform basic firefighting duties.

If we cannot find funding for this project, our firefighters will not be able to safely or effectively protect our resident population and their properties. We will be dependant on mutual aid departments to perform tasks that require any SCBA usage. Thus, increasing response time to incident scenes and increasing the potential for loss of life and property.

STATEMENT OF EFFECT:
The most significant positive direct effect of receiving funding will be the enhanced safety and protection for our firefighters with respect to fire and all other hazards they face during normal daily operations.

Response times to service calls involving the need for SCBA use will be decreased since we will no longer have to wait for a responding mutual aid department to arrive with the proper equipment. We will be able to perform our duties as soon as we arrive at each scene.

Training with NFPA compliant equipment will increase firefighter ability and confidence in their personal safety while performing tasks on service calls. This will only add to the effectiveness of each operation.

Finally, through the proper use of this PPE and equipment, our department will be able to safely perform operations that we could never before do because of equipment limitations.


The members of the XXX Volunteer Fire Department would like to deeply express our gratitude for your interest in preserving the continuity of our rural way of life through the funding of this project.