Rural Department in need of Assistance

[kdavidson]

I am writing to you to request your assistance in procuring surplus and unused firefighting equipment for the Feds Creek Area Volunteer Fire Department in Pike County, Kentucky.

Feds Creek Area Fire Department serves a population base of approximately 6000 residents in the South Eastern corner of Pike County on the Virginia border. We are an all volunteer department with an annual operating budget of roughly $6,800.00. We cover a large area comprised of residential, small business and coal mining operations. Our department provides Fire prevention services, Fire protection services and First Responder/EMT services to our community.

In 1991 the Feds Creek Area Fire Department experienced line of duty deaths of two fire department members while battling a commercial structure fire on the State line. These two deaths had a great negative impact on both the department personnel as well as support from the local community.

The department has worked diligently to rebuild since that time. Presently we have 38 members in our department most of whom are new firefighters with little or no experience. We have one 1974 Ford pumper equipped with a 750 gpm. pump and 750 gallon tank and a 1964 Chevrolet homemade tanker that can carry 1000 gallons of water. Both of these trucks need work to keep on the road and need to be replaced. Our water supply consists mainly of drafting from creeks with only a few working hydrants scattered throughout of district. The majority of our firefighters do not have any personal protective gear and we are working to provide pagers to these individuals. We have no SCBA’s and very limited hand tools, hose lines or nozzles. Basically we are starting from scratch in rebuilding this department.

Our training is very limited as we do not have a certified instructor at this time. We have 20 hours of training provided though the State and attempt to bring in outside instructors when available.

I am enclosing a list of items we desperately need to conduct basic fire ground activities and any assistance we can get from your agencies would be gratefully appreciated.


 Turn out gear, coats: bunker pants, boots, helmets, gloves, nomex hoods, etc.
 1 ¾” and 2 ½ “ fire hose.
 Nozzles
 Portable lighting for scenes.
 Axes, Pike Poles and other hand tools for fire ground work.
 Portable extinguishers
 Ventilation Equipment: generators, chain saws, K12, etc.
 Chains, Rope, Cribbing material.
 SCBA’s.
 Equipment for water supply, draft lines, pumps, tanks, etc.
 EMS, first responder supplies for medical and accident victims.
 Rescue equipment.
 Training materials, books, videos, etc.
 Apparatus capable of traveling steep narrow one lane roads.
 Station Equipment – we have two stations that are basically empty.

Any assistance that your departments are able to provide will be greatly appreciated. Our funds are very limited and most of our operating budget goes to cover gas, maintenance of vehicles and buildings, but we will do the best with what we have at this time.

I can be contacted by email at [email protected] or by telephone at (home) 606 835-9754 or by pager at 606-437-8435

Sincerely,

Ken Davidson
Feds Creek Area Volunteer Fire Department.

[FiRsqDvr45]

Try this organization http://www.helpingourown.com/ . They may be able to help you more quickly then some of us can. Good luck and be safe!

[July36]

I know the feeling KDAVIDSON becuase we,too,struggle so I wish I could help and Ido wish you the very best of luck trying to get ALOT of Companies to donate anything.We have been trying this for the past several months with no results.
With Helpingourown,good luck with them too.I applied for that assistance in the middle of this year and still havent even recieved an acknowledgement from these people so Ive been keeping on Mark Warnicks @$$ every 30 days until we get an acknowledgement and what we applied for.
Most of the equipment we have now was purchased via Ebay but we had to stop doing that because it got really expensive on our budget(around 5G annually) and alot of Sellers was screwing us on shipping so were just working on pins and needles now.
Anyways,best of luck and whatever you can grab.

Donna C
Fire Chief
Bridge Canyon VFD

http://cms.firehouse.com/dept/SeligmanAZ

[thoskin]

USDA Rural Development

I realize that you are looking for donations of equipment, but have any of you checked with your local USDA office about their Rural Development, Community Facilities programs ? It is available for many projects including fire protection. Depending on the local situation (income stats, population, etc.) you may qualify for an outright grant, a partial grant with your matching funds or a combination low interest loan and grant. Donated equipment value and donated monies can be used for the matching portion. You can use this program for equipment, apparatus or even a building. Our local office says that the money is allocated in the budget every year and that many USDA Rural Development offices return unused money at the end of the fiscal year to be distributed to programs waiting in other states. We received some of that left over money one year after the local office used their allotted monies. This is not a competitve program like FEMA, it is first come first serve. (Assuming it is a fundable project) We were able to build a station (loan), purchase Turnouts (grant) and some other things through two different applications. It is the beginning of the Feds fiscal year, so there should be money in the program. Depending on what you are asking for, there are varying amounts of paperwork. But for the most part paper work is just time and not much money. Of course this is just a brief overview of the Community Facilities program, but it may help. Just my thoughts!

[FF41230]

Get in contact with your regional coordinator for the KY fire commissiion which I believe is Bob Barringer or even contact the main office in Frankfort about training. They will come to your dept and set up classes to get everyone certified. This will help you out with state aid. I'm not sure if you guys submit your training hours to the state through the training entry website, but if not you should contact the fire commission about getting information about this. If you submit your training through the state then your dept is eligable for state aid from the fire commission. you can get money for PPE, apparatus,portable pumps, portable extinguishers,hose, nozzles and tools. If you have a "Red Book" at your department from the fire commission you can find out more information about this, and it also has all the forms needed in it. If you dont have one you can contact the FC and have them send you one. They send them out to departments all the time. Hope this can be of some assistance.If you need any contact info for Bob or the fire commission let me know.

[July36]

We cant get those "matching funds grants" THOSKIN....becuase we have no funds to match it with...and hardly recieve any donations...but...if we could get an outright grant without having to match the funds...then wed be swell.

At least this is what we are always told when we try applying for grants....and loans...forget that one...we wouldnt have the money to pay it back.

Donna C
Fire Chief
Bridge Canyon VFD

http://cms.firehouse.com/dept/SeligmanAZ

[thoskin]

OOPS !!

Donna C,
Just trying to offer some help to anyone that might read this thread. We started a new department four years ago with a question from my new neighbor. "Why don't we have a fire department in our area?" Our first community rally and fundraiser brought in $54. Twenty of it from my other neighbor. I will grant you that we have been EXTREMELY fortunate to receive much of our equipment through donations from other fire departments, hard work by a few people and some help with grants.
Our County gives us $4500 a year to operate on. Our USDA Loan payment is $3912 per year. We, like volunteers everywhere, must get out and raise the rest of the money needed to serve those that need us at the worst moment in their life. The great majority of which, can't spare twenty bucks once a year to support us.
I don't know your history as a department or the area that you serve, but the programs that I mentioned may help someone else, like they helped us.

thoskin

[July36]

no problem THOSKIN...ur company sounds about like ours when u guys first started. LOL

Donna C
Fire Chief
Bridge Canyon VFD

[firetruck32]

You will have to excuse my lack of knowledge but how do you guys operate. What I mean is how do you run government wise. In South Australia we are not allowed to set up a firefighting organisation unless the standards of fire cover aren't being met and you have a justified cause to present to the government. We have 430 volunteer brigades and about 30 paid stations split into 2 fire services. Every station is provided with an appliance, turnout gear and training according to their standards of fire cover. For example my station is in an urban area so we get 2 government appliances and 1 appliance provided by fundraising. We have 8 SCABA sets. We don't have rescue or Hazmat because that is not justified in our standards of fire cover due to the fact neighbouring stations already have this equipment. We have 3 levels of firefighter training, 1,2,3. Our brigade does all three, you must have level 1 before you respond to calls. Some country brigades have a basic rural fire appliance and basic training because thats all thier standards of fire cover say they need. The difference between us and yourselves is we have a governing body that provides all the equipment we need. The government provides our headquarters a budget, out of that budget each of the 430 brigades is provided with a budget for PPE, and running costs. Headquarters provides for all capital expenditure, eg appliances and stations, and training is also provided from a seperate budget line. It wasn't always this good, I will tell you I have done my fair share of fundraising but in 1998 we went to a central funding system and most of our problems have been sorted. This system cut out the problems some of you guys describe of people not donating or if your area was not so well off,some people just didn't have the money to give. At least now every station gets the minimum equipment to operate, some of it might not be glamourous but it all works, its all under twenty years old and if something goes wrong it gets fixed or replaced and you can go into battle so to speak with confidence.

Sorry for the woffle but I would like to know why your governments aren't providing you with the basics that some of us take for granted!!! Is it because you start off your own backs and they think you aren't justified or do they just not care because you are still doing the job whether they give you the money or not?

[July36]

Several words in a nutshell FIRETRUCK......."thats the US for ya".
Our Govt is VERY selective in who they fund here.If you are an independent...thats exactly what they see you as ...is an independent.They feel they do not have to fund the Independent companies.Also MOST of the grants that are available are very "competitive" and I personally dont feel I have to need to compete for anything.When needing funding...there is no room for competing.There are several companies in my State that have applied for that FEMA grant year after year and have never yet even got the chance to have thier "peer meetings".
Another thing in this country is we have what we THINK are "rights"....meaning we have the right to start any business or service we want to as long as its within "reasonable grounds"....(ie,no drug groups or illegal type stuff")
This country is VERY greedy too.They encourage the people here to start businesses or services so they(the govt) can collect the taxes on it.Mainly the whole thing is nothing but a big political pain in the @$$.Its all about the politics and greed.
Also they make it so very hard to get funding because they require so much bs...meaning "matching your funds" to the grants you may recieve...which in our case makes it close to impossible simply because how can u "match" funds when u have no funds to match it with?.Once our govt...as well as the citizens and grantgiver companies realize this as well as the fire companies across the country...the better things will be as far as funding is concerned.
The bottom line is....if theyd lose some of those stupid standards in order to possibly recieve these grants and used equipment thats just lying around collecting dust....the less we will be hollaring for funding and the more we can service those that need us.

Donna C
Fire Chief
Bridge Canyon VFD

http://cms.firehouse.com/dept/SeligmanAZ

[slackjawedyokel]

"stupid standards" that are keping you from
receiving grants? Please explain.

[FyredUp]

Well folks, let me throw an idea at you. Search the internet for grants. In the last year I have gotten a few grants from outfits I have found on the web. Go to google or some other search and type in fire department grants, or corporate grants, or charitable foundations. Some apply some don't but in the first 15 minutes I found a charitable foundation that sent us $750 towards a defib unit and another foundation that grants almost half the cost of a defib. I search almost every day. Most sites are not what you need but some may be applicable if you fit their criteria.

As far as vehicles go the state forester in every state has access to surplus pick-up trucks and 2 1/2 ton and some 5 ton military trucks, and sometimes even suburbans. Are they cream of the crop what you dream about fire truck chasis? Nope but perhaps better than what you have.

We run fundraisers almost all year long. We just ran a haunted house on the hill for Halloween and in 6 hours made $1067. We ran a 4 hour brat fry and made almost $300 dollars. We are planning for a breakfast with Santa and many more easy quick fundraisers for next year. Are we getting rich? Nope. But through our efforts in a little over 3 years we have $13K to go towards a replacement for our brush truck.

It is easy to say it can't be done, but more rewarding to find ways to do it. I have been in the situation of having nothing and no budget. Over time our budget has gotten better and our image has gotten better and so has our community support.

By the way, if your fire department is a part of the local government they have an obligation to fund you at least minimally. If they decide not to fund you at all then perhaps they don't believe they need a fire department. If you are a private company and have no contract with the municipality they have no obligation to fund you for one cent. If you form that way without negotiating your funding it is not the municipalities fault they don't fund you.

By the way, as a 2 time loser at the FEMA Grant game and a 2003 winner it is my opinion that the matching fund stipulation is a good one. It shows committment and at least some sort of stability of the fire department receiving the grant. We had to play with our budget and hold off on some purchases to cover our share but it was well worth it to us.

Good luck,

FyredUp

[July36]

"stupid standards" meaning the grant qualifications SLACK.
You hafta be this or hafta be that and everything has to be explained in detail along with having to have "matching funds",etc.Thats what I meant by "stupid standards".

And FYERDUP....These poeple here are full of talk but no action...they WANT the company but they either cannot or do not want to fund it to keep its doors open BUT...i must say u have some very good ideas.Right now i travel to wildland fires to keep the company funded and so far its been good..just as long as theres a really high fire season.

As for us being "municipal" we are not...we are Independent so we are not entitled to the county or state taxing so you are right..they are under no obligations.

And the equipment you mentioned you are also correct on..it is better than walking to the fire.

Donna C
Fire Chief
Bridge Canyon VFD

http://cms.firehouse.com/dept/SeligmanAZ

[Weruj1]

Donna,
I do not have the situation you have there at all, I am not trying to bash you however, we too apply for the big ol FEMA grant year after year and it is competitive, all I hear you say is we have no funding,but you have to try !Our department isnt rich by any means but we do get by and and are a municipal department. Does that mean we have everything we want or need >? No, but you have to try. I wish you luck.

[July36]

ty WERUJ...well get there eventually...it just takes alot of time and effort.

Donna C
Fire Chief
Bridge Canyon VFD

http://cms.firehouse.com/dept/SeligmanAZ