Show me the Money!!!

[codeblue81]

I really hate that quote but it about the only thing that I can say at this point. I was told lastnight by a friend on the dept that we were approved for a Fire Act grant in total of $105,556. And then today I see our small-town FDs name on the firehouse.com website. I'm almost to the point of bouncing off the walls.

Now just if we can make some money at our golf outing on the 16th in Sandoval we'll be doing pretty good.

Anyone else here gotten any good news yet?

code_blue81

[jaybird210]

CAA-FREAKIN'-CHING!!!

WOOHOO!!!

Outstanding!!!! Good for you, that's very cool. So, what are you doing with a windfall of such porportions?!

Inquiring minds want to know.

[codeblue81]

the shopping list is pretty long.....

I know that at the discussion meeeting there was over 2 pages of wants and needs. I think we finally agreed on the following:

1 4500lb Cascade
16 4500lb airpacks
25 bunkergear
4 Halligans
12 Portable radios
1 thermal Imager


Now whether or not we can afford all of this is a different matter. But we're gonna try


code_blue81

[kprsn1]

Congratulations!

Way to go neighbors!! Put in a good word with FEMA for us just south of you would you and spend your money! We've asked for pretty much the same: turnout gear, SCBA, hose, portable radios, and training material. Still waiting and hoping! Congratulations again!

Chad

[olneyfd]

Congrats! We scored also!

Congrats on the award! Glad to here some of our brothers got a piece of the pie. We were just notified that we are ereciving ours also. $22,662.00 for a training center. This should be a great asset to our area departments (9 depts train here).

[jboczek]

Congratulations from the south. I saw your name on the list, along with a few others from down here. Hope it keeps up so Sandoval and us can get some of the pie, too.

[jaybird210]

Blue, you oughta be able to get all that stuff on your list for that kinda money.

We spent just over $60,000 on a 4500psi cascade and 14 packs last year; turnouts oughta not cost you more than $1100 each, halligans are negiligible when you're talking about that kinda money ($100), radios, depending on what kind, $1000, TIC shouldn't run more than $12,000.

That'll run ya close to $114,000 on my calculator. With your 10% it's right there. Squeeze those damn suppliers. They'll make enough money off of you!!! Good luck!

[jboczek]

Chad's gettin' a new toy!

Chad, I hear congratulations are in order for the Sandoval FPD. Bought a new truck today, huh?

[ChiefReason]

Grrrrrrrr. I mean, goody goody!

So what?
You guys haven't told Blue about my feelings on FIRE Act?
You tryin' to start something? Could you rub my face in it any harder? Being one of the "truly" needy in this state and still, no federal panacea yet?
I swear; if they hadn't already budgeted money for next year, I'd jump off the tallest bridge over Pope Crick(pronounced "creke" if you're from Hinckley).
Seriously; I'm happy for ANYONE from Illinois who gets some of their tax money back from the feds.
I was just funnin' with you, but I was serious about Jay. He talks funny.
Hey; did you hear the one about the grant writer, the peer group and the mime? I can't remember the joke, but the punch line is "it was just an act!" Oh, oh, I'm holding my side. My stomach hurts.
Congrats, Blue and to the rest of you mugs.
CR

[kprsn1]

Cat's out of the bag

Didn't take long for that news to get out. Actually, it's not quite a done deal yet. Spoke to the Chief this morning and we still haven't gotten the financing approval yet. Hopefully we will have the answer today. If all goes well we're are going to try and get a brand new Crimson Fire (Spartan/Luverne/Quality merger) demonstrator model located in Louisiana from Towers in Freeburg if it's still available. It's a 1250 gpm with 1000 gallon tank and 5 man custom cab. They still need to make a few changes to it before we get it (add dump valve, etc) but if all goes well we could have it by the end of September or first of October. Might as well spill the other beans. We ordered a new ambulance (should be here in September) and are putting the finishing touches on our new rescue chassis that we got last month. Actually we are removing the rescue equipment box from our old chassis and placing it on the new one. Painting of the box should be done today or tomorrow. I consider ourselves very fortunate that our trustees are investing so much into the present and future of our department and it's residents. My hat's off to them. Hope we can find the money to pay for everything! By the way, didn't want to tell you so you guys don't razz me but we really had to get another pumper since one of ours was totaled out. I didn't have anything to do with it! I know you won't give me a hard time about that little boo-boo will you guys?!!

Chad

[jaybird210]

Chad, we can't bust your chops if we don't have any info.

C'mon, a partial confession is not good for the soul. Details! Info! Better yet, PICTURES!!!

Glad to here you're getting good stuff!

[kprsn1]

Bad News

Well guys, the bad news came today. Our local bank does not want to help finance the new truck. I guess they're afraid we won't be able to make the payments or something. We still have a couple of options left like other banks, a lease agreement, new state loan program, etc. but looks like we may have to wait until next year, probably try to float a bond issue and try again. At least we've managed to get the rescue chassis and ambulance especially since we do 600 to 700 ambulance calls a year the ambulance was pretty important.

Jay, don't have any pictures right now but to make a long story short we had our oldest pumper (our '69 LaFrance) out for a routine maintenance drive and, well, the driver found out he had a problem with the brakes. He finally got it stopped after it made a short trip through a field. Luckily he was out in the country and wasn't hurt but it doesn't take a whole lot of damage to total out a truck that old. Most of the damage was to the front bumper and cab and is probably repairable but there wasn't enough insurance coverage to cover the repair work so the insurance company totaled it. Pump still works great, just can't drive it to a fire! And no I was not driving!!!

Chad

[jaybird210]

Chad, please tell me they let you hang on to the pump! How big was it? That'd go great on a nice big tanker, you know. Anyway, glad to hear your man wasn't hurt. Too bad to lose a nice old ALF though. Those things LOOKED like a fire truck!

[kprsn1]

Jay, actually the insurance company didn't know what to do with the truck so they let us buy it back for next to nothing so we still have it. The pump is a 1000 gpm ALF. Not sure what the trustees are planning to do with it since they've been focused on finding a way to replace it. I understand that to make it legal to drive again it has to be repaired and then taken to Missouri to pass inspection. Is that right? Guess there's always the chance we might just try to fix it. It was a bear to drive though. Good ol' manual transmission. I'm not that tall so I almost had to stand up to reach the clutch and push it in ! She sure could draft though!

[jboczek]

Chad, I talked to the salesman about an hour after your guys signed the contract on the 13th and again on the 15th. Maybe I know more than you do. He did say they had to make some mods and you'd have it in 30 - 45 days.
Did you guys try USDA Rural Development for money? We just got the balance for our new truck from them for 4.25% fixed rate for up to 25 years. They claimed they have all the loan money you could want. Give them a try.