FEMA Grants

[dragonfyre]

SORRY! I tried to post this as a new item, don't know why it's under RIT.


All I've seen at other forums is people complaining that they didn't get their FEMA grant. I'm interested in hearing from other companies who did get their grant and to what they attribute their success. We got $33,800 for firefighting equipment and replaced our 27 year old Hurst system.

[ 12-13-2001: Message edited by: dragon-fyre ]

[FireDiver111]

I live in a small town of 3300 in NW ILL. We received a grant for $15,000.00 to purchase rope rescue equipment. We live on the Mississippi River and have 200'+ rock walls north of town in the Palisades State Park which draws hundreds of climbers each year. We have always provided a rescue service with minimal equipment. We decided it was time to advance our training skills and purchase the equipment to make the job as safe as possible.

[dragonfyre]

Congratulations. Did you (the company) write the grant application or did you have a professional do it? I did mine alone. Is this your first grant, state or local? Have you ever gone to a grant writing seminar or did you just follow the instructions, use your gut feelings and go for broke?

[micp1714]

My fire department has not received any money from that or any other grant. That is very strange considering that the Town I work for has paid grant writers.

[dragonfyre]

Sounds to me like you're paying for nothing with having paid professionals do the work. Did they try for the FEMA grants? What did they apply for? Did they confer with your department on what and why you needed the money?

These are all good things that others need to know about before the applications come out again in March, 2002.

Thanx.

[FiRsqDvr45]

Myself and our Intern/Jr. FF have begun preparing for the upcoming FEMA grant process and I would to hear how others who did get monies got it also. Hopefully this year we can get grants for training and equipment in wildland firefighting and technical rescue (specifically Ice, Water and Rope Rescue. I have been searching for copies of successful grants to study how they where written so if anyone has a link or 3 in that vein please pass them along. THanks and GOod Luck to all who apply.

[dragonfyre]

If you go to www.dragonflynet.com Rodney Slaughter has some great ideas listed. He also has several examples of winning grant applications including my FEMA application.

Also you might want to see if anyone in your area can run a seminar on how to write a grant. Our county community college had a FREE evening where the person responsible for getting their grants went over all 38 pages to help us complete it properly.

If not, Rodney, VFIS and others sponsor one day grant writing seminars that are well worth the money. I attended Rodney's 3 years ago and since then have received over $50,000 in grants. Not bad for a $200.00 investment.

I was at the NFA when the applications where coming in and those I spoke with were hoping that the original sections would be there for 2002. I was told there were originally 15 different sections so hopefully Training will be one.

I'm glad to hear you're looking for help for next year instead of whinning about last year. That's what I was hoping to do when I started this forum.

Good luck.

[James E. Colby]

To Dragon-Fyre
We're from South Jersey. We applied for four (4) FEMA Grants; this being permitted since we are also a Fire District (An Elective Governmental Body). We were successful and very thankful on the one (1) we received, that being "PPE" for 40,000+. The other app's were for, Excercise, Brush Truck and a Rapid Response Truck for our EMS squad which would have rolled on all Fire Responses with a paramedic on board. I personally have one grip with the FEMA awards, that being they refused on some unwritten and mysterious grounds (I always thought the Gov. had to be an open book - Sunshine Law?) to identify a possible non-existent V.F.C. in North Jersey that won 45,000 for the Wellness-Fitness award. I say 'non-existent' because any and everyway that I have tried to contact this No.Jersey Fire Company, including various Law Enforcement Agencies in the same area has been completely UNsuccessful. I trully beleive that this particular, supposed Fire Company "doe not" exist. And I think the money went elsewhere. I challange anyone to prove me wrong! Any takers? Send email to: [email protected]

[the7tower]

FEMA awarded 1855 fire department grants. 208 were for fire trucks and 404 were for equipment. Only 104 some departments got two grants.

I asked for four grants two each for two departments in the state and got all four FEMA grants. Only six were awarded in the state. Only two of those were for fire trucks and two for equipment.

We clearly explained our need for a new first attack fire truck with auto trans, 1500 gallon tank, dump valve, pump and roll, seating for 5 with 4 in SCBA, protective clothing, and all the loose equipment from a complete set of Jaws, LDH, 20 lightweight air packs and bottles, nozzles, saws, foam, ladders, generator, fllodlight, dump tank, radios, etc.

The whole works is in service now and working well.

[ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: the7tower ]

[dragonfyre]

Congrats to Jim Colby and the7thtower.

I'm interested to know where you are 7thtower. I was told at the NFA in July that truck grants would be going to "poorer" companies in the south and mid-west who hadn't bought a new truck in 30 years. Also, how old is your newest truck?

We were going to go for a rescue truck but decided not to since we got a new pumper in August, 2000. Maybe next year we'll go for the truck to put our new Hurst equipment in.

[medic1085]

Yea. Just a remarkable story The7tower lets see the wheres and hows to this one. Not that I doubt an expert like You or anything.

[island hopper]

I know this can't help but seem like sour grapes, but I followed up our rejected grant request and got some inteesting facts. For example: fire companies may be interested in knowing that several fire dept's in VT had "station exhaust systems" funded under Personal Protective Equipment. I know this because I filed a Freedom of Information request with FEMA for 4 applications that were awarded in VT. When I called FEMA about them, I was told point blank on the phone that this was not an eligible activity under any category, let alone PPE.

Don't get me wrong - I am very pleased for the resources that are being set aside for fire companies. But if you think there is a fair, impartial, thorough screening process going on you are sadly, and unfortunately mistaken. You have the same chance if you were throwing darts.

My research into the practices and procedures demonstrate that the screening and judging process is arbitrary and random. NONE of the information on the forms is verified by FEMA (according to FEMA) prior to awards, which means those willing to stretch the truth have the best shot, as well as somne of the dept's genuinely in need.

If anyone can support finding station improvements under PPE, I will be willing to listen, and learn. But I for one do not buy it, especially when the grant administrators fund it, then turn around and say it is not fundable. If 2 of 4 grant awards I looked at were rotten, how many hundred others are across the country?? This is hard to take in the face of genuine needs by many companies without substantial tax bases.

I strongly believe that a third party should investigate the management of this FEMA grant assistance program.

[fireman5_32337]

Maybe the reason you heard other departments complaining was because of the sham called the fire act. When it was first reported it was hailed as a way for the "little guy"(i.e. rural departments) to finally step up and get on the same footing as their big city cousins. I suppose thats why the City of West Palm Beach, one on the wealthiest cities in South Florida got something to the tune of $98,000.00. I can see how that evens out. We have a population of less than 20,000, drive trucks that are 10 years old and older, don't have enough SCBA to go around, you've heard all the stories I'm sure. And this grant selection committee not only gives out several multi thousand dollar grants, it gives two to the same department. Imagine how many other departments could have benefitted from just some of that money. We will apply again, and we will wait again, and watch, to see how many large cities with hundred thousand dollar budgets get grants AGAIN. I would only hope they see fie to either not aplly again giving other departments who got nosed out a chance this year. But if it is run the same as last year, I will still be riding in our same truck, with our same gear, without enough SCBA to go around.

[the7tower]

>>>>>>>>The7tower lets see the wheres and hows to this one. Not that I doubt an expert like You or anything.

Ask away

Who cares if it was arbitrary? The key is to get a grant, we did, all we could and we got CDBG grants as well. 1.5 million to be exact and no match.


We spent 2 hours filling out the app

Here is OUR FEMA FIRE GRANT COVER LETTER post yours, lets compare need

To Whom It May Concern,

The KVFD is a township board managed organization. It is comprised of an authorized strength of 20 members, serving a town of @330 people and a rural county population of @170 people, spread over 78 square miles. Our population is made up of hard working miners, ranchers, current and retired
military and civilian contractors who spent their careers in the deserts of north central Nevada supporting weapons programs. Our town is a military training target with up to 200 sonic booms a day are allowed by fighter planes under current government rules. Most people live in mobile homes
or houses. We have 9 commercial buildings in town. We are in the middle of an extreme wildland interface zone.

The fire department is the closest responder for fighting fires, protecting structures, military plane crashes, auto extrication and EMS services in the area between our closest neighbors to the north west 27 miles but they won’t leave town, 74 miles to the north east, and 41 miles to the south, a whopping mid point coverage area of 1,000 square miles of Lander, Eureka, and Nye Counties. That is an area half the size of the state of New York. Our 5,621 square mile county only has 3 fire departments. Our closest county tanker for mutual aid is over 115 miles away. The average ambulance run is 175 miles each way or six and a half hours with an all volunteer staff.

The federal government owns 85% of that response area but provides minimal seasonal initial response to wildland fires only. Their closest unit is 27 miles away when not fighting another fire. There back up is 90 and 137 miles away. So structure responsibility falls to us. For the first hour or more of any event we are pretty much on our own. In the heavy snows of winter the roads over the mountain passes can close and no help is available.

During the summer of 1999 and 2000 our 4 county area had 4 of the 10 largest fires in the U.S. Two of the fires last year resulted in wildland firefighter deaths. Just one fire that we responded to was 300,000 acres in size. At any given time the last two years dozens of fires have burned simultaneously. We’ve seen another town our size in the area 50% destroyed by fire.

We operate on $0 to $2500 a year, with an average of about $2000. Most of that money is used to provide EMS services to our area. We have on loan a 150 gallon skid in the back of an old pickup truck for brush fires with freeze damage. We have a military fuel truck that was given to us after it rolled and is heavily damaged to haul water also with freeze damage. The fire department runs a LOANED 1958 LN Curtis pumper with a 500 gallon water tank and pump. It will soon be taken from us by its owner and go into museum service. The pump is barely operational. The pump manufacturer no longer makes the pump and parts are impossible to acquire. We will try to borrow another vehicle but have
not been lucky finding anything that will hold water or draft.

We have built, purchased, begged, borrowed and stolen every piece of fire equipment on the apparatus. None of our protective clothing, breathing apparatus or fire equipment meets any kind of standards. We use what we use at great personal risk. Our fairly young fire chief died unexpectedly last year and was the township water system mechanic. Under his leadership we were able to add 11 fire hydrants. Our ISO rating is a Class 10 unprotected.

With a Class 10 most homeowners cannot get replacement fire insurance or pay drunk driver type rates. Without insurance most people cannot get a home or mobile home loan. Extremely high insurance that is available doesn’t allow many to qualify for a mortgage.

If you find us worthy to receive this funding we have a plan to copy what our neighbors have accomplished in attaining the best ISO ratings in the US for rural departments. We are asking for help with a used fire truck, hopefully with an automatic transmission (our current manual transmission limits the people able to safely drive it in our mountainous environment), with a 1500 gallon water tank and a 1250 gpm pump. It needs to hold 2400
feet of 4 inch hose. In addition we are asking for used standards compliant equipment and hose to match the ISO equipment compliment for engine and
ladder service. We believe we can purchase the apparatus and all the equipment for the $100,000 we are asking for but we’d make do with any contribution to public safety and any advice to do a better job.

What we would do with that used vehicle is challenge our ISO rating. Our pre-audit with ISO a couple months ago is the basis of what we are asking for and suggests the following. Just owning the vehicle would allow a Class 9. Its arrival would immediately allow the average homeowner to save $178 on their fire insurance each year. The used pumper we are requesting with its 1500 gallon water tank in conjunction with our damaged tanker would allow an ISO Dwelling 8 challenge to save an additional $130 to $360 savings.

The worst we could do is save everyone $309 to $538 a year and have a more dependable fire service.

We will expand the number of draft points in our district so 2400 feet of hose will reach every structure. Within a month of receiving the vehicle we will demonstrate our hose lay and drafting ability to ISO. Our highest fire flow is 1250 gpm according to ISO. That is why 1250 pumper is requested and 4 inch hose is critical to match the 500 and 750 residential fire flows of our community and so the math makes sense to ISO. A Class 5 is possible district wide with a properly equipped vehicle. Homeowners would save an additional $119 to $370 a year. All told we can save homeowners $428 to $908 a year every year for the next 15 years. Businesses will save 11.8% a year at a Class 9, 21.1% at a Class 8 and 65.3% at a Class 5. The average yearly savings will be $975 per home or 2.3 million dollars over the rating period.

In addition, once we’ve got the go ahead from USFA, we will approach our Town Board with a proposed $1 a month water bill increase to cover the cost of maintenance, operation and station expansion. A private citizen will pay the match to our grant. Our commitment to do the right thing is so high we will return the fire truck and equipment to the government this year if we can’t do what we propose.

We are good neighbors, and when asked to help, we go and ask questions later. Your grant would allow us to fulfill the progressive plans of our late chief. If the federal government is looking for a community who can demonstrate a need for help and promise to show a quantifiable savings to the citizens, this is the department to help!

[ 12-26-2001: Message edited by: the7tower ]

[medic1085]

My, My deception is running rampent. Once again FEMA at its finest.