It must be political

[roadmd]

I think political connections have a lot tot do with getting the grant. It certainly isn't on need. case in point: A dept. in a neighboring state which is fairly wealthy was awarded a grant while the next town over (not very rich) has not received anything! I think somehow deptartments need to be investigated before awards are made!


Watch your Butts out there!

[Engine683]

Investigated for what, exactly? The quality of their grant writers? Where's the money for this investigation going to come from? I wrote our grant request, no reply yet, but nowhere was I asked my political affiliation or who my congressperson or senator was, and I have real doubt anyone at FEMA is spending a lot of time cross-referencing which application comes from a district with a congressman on this or that commitee. What did the "dept. in a neighboring state" apply for, and what did the department in the next town over apply for. Did they state their need adequately? Have they been denied yet, or do you even know? So far, there hasn't been any real evidence of the dreaded "Dear John" letters, only "I heard from a friend of a friend that the station two counties over got the letter..." What did your department apply for, Roadmd? Did you get it?

That said, we have to be vigilant that the changes to the Fire Grant that will come about because of the move to Homeland Security. If it remains truly competive like I believe it is now, good for us. If the worse happens and we all have to get letters of recommendation from our representive to begin to compete, then all will be lost, and the naysayers who cry about the rich getting richer will be able to say "see, I told you so!"

[Dalmatian90]

News Flash...

This just in...

FIRE Act grants are not based on "need."

They're not also pure pork doled out by individual congressmen, and I know some will (and have) disagreed with me on this next point, but I'm sure political influence can be used to determine the timing on announcing a grant that the fairly non-political process had already been determined.

[ChiefReason]

This is a question for all of those happy faces out there who believe that they were successful because they wrote a drop dead gorgeous FIRE Act grant.
My question is: Who made the announcement that you were receiving funding under the program?
The answer says it all!
You come in here and tell those who haven't been funded that they wrote a crappy grant or this or that and you have no right to say it, because you don't know that is the case.
You try to come off as a superman who have counselled and cajoled others to what may have been a successful grant or not. You're not talking about the ones who don't get funded. You're only patting yourselves on the backs for the ones that have made it.
And let me think for a minute; where is the grant program being moved to next year? Oh that's right; the Office of Domestic Preparedness where all of the politicians have promised to fight for fire departments. What's next year? Hmmmmmm. Wait; I know this. It's an election year.
Why don't you just tell the others: "Tough luck; try again next year".
Instead, you want to lead everyone to believe that you have the magic formula.
Not every grant that was done in accordance with the rules and program guidance is getting funded. Stop BSing us into believing that you are an "insider". It's nauseating.
I've been around long enough to know when political influence is exerted. I ought to know; I'm a politician at a local level.
Give us a break.
If you're keeping track, put me down with the ones who believe it's political. I've been saying it for three years. My opinion hasn't changed.
I don't expect you to agree. In fact, I expect that you disagree, so let's just leave it at that.
CR

[ffmedic11]

Maybe it is maybe it isnt. But hmmmmmmmmmm seems to me that a few that are posting that it's NOT political were posting completely different opinions last year. HMMMMMMMMMMMM maybe because THIS year they received an award and last year they didnt. As a matter of fact i've seen a few names on here that swore they would never post again because they thought the entire program was a joke.

Come on now, we all know it's stressful when you havent heard one way or the other. Granted constructive criticism is good, But lets not take it to far.

STAY SAFE

[firemanpat29]

Good bad or indifferent if the money comes from the Govmt
ITS POLITICAL !!!! how could it not be?

[Adze39]

When we went to submit our grant, one of the last things you read before hitting the submit button was an address of where to send letters from Congressmen. We didn't send any letter in nor call our Congressman, but if politics have NOTHING to do with it, then why do they have that there?

Don't get me wrong, I still think the big thing is making sure you can adequately state your need in your narrative. Alot of people cry about poor departments getting denied, but they don't generally know what that department asked for or what their narrative said.

[orangebuster]

O.K. I will tend to agree to some extent that it is political. More imporant though, I agree with ChiefReason that some apps are presented by departments that spend a long time disecting info to write proper grants and they have not been awarded funding. Know that to be true because we have done that.

Our department is not worse off financially then some others in the area. However we also are not as well off as others in the area are. We do the app the right way and still get nothing while departments with a better funding source get it. People tend to think the rich get richer. I have read some of the winning and losing grant apps for the last 2 years and on some there is no great difference. Yea there are on some others though, and our app in our eyes is in line or better than previous winners. Explain how that happens?

Yes there are difference of opinions on these threads, but to flat out say to someone you did not play by ther rules when you know nothing of that department is down ride crude and rude dude. Ya aint gotta like their opinion, but ya sure as heck need to accept it as it is.

As far as it going back to the same politicians that say they support us, darn skippy that is a mirage. Not many do. They talk the talk, but many have never been in our shoes and they will never understand the mind of a firefighter or understand their heart and desire. Sad but true statement was made last night on Third Watch. People waved the flag and patted us on the back for a couple of weeks after 9/11. What have they done since.


STILL STANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tmnkwd]

Well, I can't be responsible.....

It’s out of my hands. I have no control over what happens. It must be someone else’s fault that we didn’t get funded. It has to be political. There can be no other reason that we did not get funded…….

Yeah, we know the ones who want to blame the grant, blame the politics, and blame anyone who received the grant. Blame the neighboring department who hired a grant writer, blame them for not being smart enough for hiring a grant writer…

In the end, how about taking responsibility for your grant if you wrote it. If not, see about getting involved next year and offer some suggestions on how you think the application could be better. If that fails, search for a scapegoat and lay all the blame at their feet.

This isn’t just me on my soapbox for this forum, I have pretty much always seen people try to blame someone or something else for their perceived shortcomings, when in reality, the ones that shine, really shine. See if you can add a little polish and rise above the rest of the garbage and general insults.

[ChiefReason]

And someone needs to get a bigger trowel for all of the BS they are spreading!

[SamsonFCDES]

Well, I know its not political in our case. Hell, we only have 2500 people in our whole county, we are not a voteing power, hell, sometimes they even think we are part of ND instead of MT when we talk to the folks at the capital.

I do see how it can be political in our case, I am sure that the peer group has no idea where the hell we are even from, and if they know its MT, they would have no way of knowing unless they look us up on a map, if we even are on the map.

[theonlychief]

( It must be political..)

Is this a new section for the whinners?

[ChiefReason]

No, it's not!

This is the new section for correct spelling.
If you were trying to spell winners, there is no "h".
If you were trying to spell whiners, then there is only one "n".
And remember; there is no "I" in Chief! No, wait; that would spell chef. Yeah; that's correct in this case, since you are trying to "stir the pot"!
You're too damned happy, chief. You must have gotten your grant!
CR

[Whitey66]

First, I would like to congratulate the numerous departments around the country fortunate enough to receive a grant award. Whether political or not, the money is making it to the local level, where it's needed.

I believe out of all the federal grant programs, the FIRE act is the least political of all. After reading of large awards to some local, well-funded departments, I tried to find some rationale to the grant program. My thoughts are the following:

The grant application required that your total budget be disclosed and the percentage of funding be allocated based on the source, i.e.: fund raising, tax dollars, etc. If you look at the departments that having you questioning the politics involved, does the department purchase their apparatus OR does their municipalities write the check? If the municipality purchases the apparatus or any other capital expense, then the fire company never directly receives or disburses the funds from their accounts. Thus, the money is never shown in their budgets.

Make sense???

Whitey

[theonlychief]

Nope! No grant as of yet and no Dear John also.


Yep, I stirrrrrrrred the pot. and look what come floating to the top.