Live-Fire Training Paul Tarter
It’s wish season. Fire departments everywhere are preparing for the season, hopeful and listing everything needed.
More than likely as you’re reading this, it’s in the middle of the application period for the U.S. Assistance to Firefighter Grants (AFG) program. For many fire departments, the grant application process is daunting, with lots of data that needs to be collected and questions that need answering. Even after the process, no guarantee exists to ensure that your fire department will be awarded anything.
Before stepping into the grant process, consider these three important factors:
- Is your department currently using outdated equipment beyond the expected life cycle?
- Does your department have a compelling story that will explain why certain equipment is needed?
- Is the request you’re making reasonable?
While there’s a significant amount more to a grant application process, these three factors can be the difference between getting grants and missing out.
Outdated Equipment
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) offers a variety of standards for firefighter equipment. Updated on a regular basis, these standards often provide guidelines for how long equipment lasts.
For example, the life cycle of turnouts is eight years, while a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and cylinder have an expected life of 15 years. Not sure how old your equipment is? The approval labels on the equipment can provide the required information for determining its age.
A side note: If it appears your equipment isn’t lasting that long, questions will arise about proper maintenance as required by the standards. Making sure your department follows regular maintenance schedules with a compliant or certified provider is imperative.
In general, if equipment is outdated—after the expected life cycle, say 20-year-old SCBA or 13-year-old turnouts—that application moves toward the top of the pile if everything else is in order.
1 SCBA, turnouts, and apparatus are the most common grant applications. (Photos courtesy of Drager.)
A Compelling Story
A small fire department begins experiencing a surge of incidents that require specialized equipment—technical rescues, hazardous materials, or something else. Perhaps a firefighter or citizen ended up requiring medical care. With specialized equipment (and proper training), these incidents could be managed better.
Tell that story. Explain why the equipment could have made the difference for the department and everyone involved.
Not a storyteller? Look at the local news coverage. Maybe a friendly reporter or a good writer in the community will help write it up.
Don’t embellish. Tell the story in a straightforward, factual manner.
For example, the firefighter who’s working the pumper might have been overcome from what’s commonly called “smoke inhalation.” However, it could have been much worse. It could be the toxic twins—carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN). While either by themselves is dangerous or even deadly, the combination of the two is exponentially worse, earning them that distinctive name of the “toxic twins.” Both are colorless, but CO is odorless while HCN has the odor of almonds, although the odor from HCN could be masked by the smoke and other fireground smells. A CO monitor alone will only al
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Posted: Dec 23, 2022
E-ONE—Vicksburg (MS) Fire Department two pumpers. Typhoon cabs and chassis; Cummins L9 450-hp engines; Hale Qmax 1,500-gpm pumps; 1,030-gallon polypropylene water tanks. Dealer: Hank Levins, Sunbelt Fire, Fairhope, AL.
PREVIOUS PHOTO OF THE DAY >>
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Posted: Dec 23, 2022
According to the Alexandria Police Department, a man in Louisiana was struck and killed by a fire truck Friday night, NBC15.com reported.
Officers were called around 11:32 p.m. regarding a man being hit by a fire truck, the report said. When officers arrived, they found the man dead at the scene. Police said he was struck by an Alexandria Fire Department truck.
The victim was identified as 50-year-old Gilmer Jaleon Lopez. Police are trying to locate Lopez’s next of kin and are asking for the public’s help in finding his family, the report said.
If you have any information, call the APD Traffic Division at (318) 441-6408 or APD Dispatch (318) 441-6559.
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Posted: Dec 23, 2022
Residents listened December 15 at the Orland Community Center to current and former fire leaders lay out issues with the existing fire department and explain why a new $4 million building is being proposed, EllsworthAmerican.com reported.
Residents will vote on whether to borrow money for a new station in a special town meeting referendum February 1 at the community center. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The fire officials claim the current station is becoming non-functional and that the city must find a way of providing adequate fire protection and emergency response, the report said.
The Orland Fire Station Committee examined the following five options:
• Do nothing.
• Eliminate the Orland Fire Department and contract services out with neighboring towns.
• Repair and renovate the existing building (estimated at $1 million).
• Demolish all or part of the existing building and rebuild in the same location.
• Build a new fire station in a new location.
The only plan that made sense, according to the committee, is building a new station in a new location on town-owned property, which will be at the Orland transfer station, the report said.
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Posted: Dec 23, 2022
The Jacksonville (FL) Downtown Investment Authority has completed negotiations with a riverfront landowner to buy property to replace a marine fire station being demolished at the former Kids Kampus as part of Shad Khan’s Four Seasons hotel project, JaxDailyRecord.com reported.
The DIA board voted 6-0 Wednesday to approve a deal that would give AR Polar Jacksonville LLC a five-year option to acquire a 4.75-acre portion of an existing retention pond adjacent to public media WJCT Inc.’s headquarters and south of the Hart Bridge ramp, the report said.
In exchange, the company will provide the city with 1.2 acres of its 20.37-acre property that has access to the St. Johns River to build the new marine fire station, according to the report.
The station will service the Downtown riverfront, but the DIA noted that it had to begin work in support of the Jacksonville Jaguars owner’s estimated $387.6 million Four Seasons hotel and residences and office building, the report said.
The city budgeted $14 million for the relocation of the marine fire station and dock, the report said.
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