$$Maximum allowed for SCBA's

[chiefmaden]

Could anyone tell me what the dollar amount FEMA is allowing for SCBA's in the grants for this year. My rep quoted me $3318.00 with all NFPA compliant goodies. Thanks for the Help

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

$4500 at last check. SCBA, mask, spare bottle are all included in that total.

[dragonfyre]

Also you will only get as many number-wise as they feel needed. We applied for 25 and they cut us back to 20. I'm pretty sure that was due to the number of members we had listed as active in the application portion.

[jboczek]

If I remember, the number you could get was limited to the number of seated positions in your apparatus, too. I haven't read this year's guidance as we're not applying for SCBA this year.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Jack is right, it's still limited to seated positions on apparatus unless you have a really good reason for needing more than that. One being that any officers that respond directly to the scene need them.

[clevelandfire]

you can ask for as many SCBA as you have seats in fire app. i have also recived a quote of $3800 for complete set and spare bottle for scott 4.5 and 2.2

[ksmith31]

When you say SCBA, mask and spare bottle, does that mean that you are including a bottle as part of the SCBA and the spare is truly a "spare." I've had people say "SCBA, mask and spare bottle" and they mean only one bottle. Our quotes for prices cam both ways. Some said spare bottle but only meant one bottle in the price. Can anyone help interpret the lingo for me?

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

You can ask for a two bottles, one to be used in the SCBA, and one to be a spare. What you can't ask for is 10 air packs and 20 extra bottles to put on the equipment truck. Since you're only supposed to be in for 2 bottles and then rehab, by that time ought to be some sort of system available to refill bottles. Whether it's run them back and forth to the station, or if someone has a mobile cascade.

[ksmith31]

Thanks for the information. We are asking for 57 packs with a bottle and a spare. The chiefs would like to ask for 30 bottles on top of that to stock our rescue and ladder trucks that are first due for us and mutual aid to the nine districts we border; automatic mutual aid to five of them. Being as rural as we are and mostly farming communities, we don't really have support of mobile cascade systems. Plus, we ourselves cover 92 square miles so our firehouse to refill bottles can be 15-20 minutes from our furthest point. Don't know if any of these facts will help our cause but they want me to try.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

The 57 with the bottle in the pack and the spare bottle you can ask for. The extra 30 you can't, as needed as they are. If you dig enough there's a fix for your problem. Can't share it, violates my business ethics since others have hired me for my creative alternatives and I can't hand out for free what others pay for. I can say I fixed the same problem for a department I worked with last year. There's always a solution, take a step back and think about it. I'm sure you can come up with something.

[Nebo424]

I was told last year that the number of scba that you could receive was the same number of seated positions on you trucks. For example if you had three trucks each truck set 4 members than you could get 12 air packs plus spare bottles.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

'Tis true 1 SCBA & spare bottle per seat on apparatus. I was thinking that he said rescue trucks and ladder trucks meaning they had more than one of each plus engines, so 57 didn't seem that high. Not rescue and ladder trucks, meaning 1 of each. Although some folks actually put 10 seats in a 10 man cab, so it's not impossible. Must be small people in that area, those of us that eat on a daily basis have too much meat on us to fit in such trucks. :D

[ksmith31]

We have a fair size fleet of trucks but only one each rescue and ladder. Our rescue is currently set up to carry 27 extra bottles and our ladder truck carries an extra 3 bottles. And believe me, we EAT around here, but we do seat as many as a truck will hold. The extra bottles are just that, extra; not for a specific seat. I will gently let the chiefs down tomorrow night when I meet with them. I could be fun ... they hate it when a women gets to say "I told you so" in fire service.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Chiefs hate it when anyone says that. They hate it even more when someone else tells them "didn't ______ tell you that before and you ignored them?"

[Bones42]

Originally posted by BC79er
Although some folks actually put 10 seats in a 10 man cab, so it's not impossible. Must be small people in that area, those of us that eat on a daily basis have too much meat on us to fit in such trucks. :D You just need bigger cabs. Ours fit no problem. :D

[dixiechicknc]

The only time you can ask for more bottles or more SCBA is if you can justify it in narrative. One example for a few more sets of SCBA I have seen given around here is the very Rural depts. often have officers responding straight from home/work. (Chief, IC etc) I know a few depts. that worked on. However, have seen some dept. that had large fleet, but not the volunteer numbers to justify large SCBA purchases and have seen them reduce their number awarded (no matter the number of seated positions).

One possible justification for additional bottles (more than the 1 spare) would be large volume of structure fire calls and a very rural district, with no immediate air source. Although, as a grant writer, I would probably suggest a mobile air system or air of some type before applying for the additional bottles. This is just my opinion.

[AsstChief292]

Originally posted by chiefmaden
Could anyone tell me what the dollar amount FEMA is allowing for SCBA's in the grants for this year. My rep quoted me $3318.00 with all NFPA compliant goodies. Thanks for the Help My dept just received a grant for 2004 for 15 MSA packs for $77,000.00.

[firefighterox]

we were awarded 89K for 10 ISI packs with voice amp, and Hud, 10 spare bottles, larger cascade bottles, im not sure how many new bunker sets, it was one for every member, and it seems like something else but im not sure. And we had to send some back because they wouldnt approve our purchase, which sucked.

[ksmith31]

How many facepieces can you request in an SCBA request? Is it just one per pack or can you ask for extras? I haven't seen that subject addressed anywhere in the narrative.

[toddmcbr]

We were able face pieces for every active member which also included voice amps.

[chiefmaden]

I had noticed in another thread that someone had listed all the catogories that FEMA gave to you choose from. In the "OTHER" category the listed all the ones that FEMA gave you to choose from. Is this a good idea or not? Our department just like others will be using the packs for Rescue, Haz Mat and protection against fire.

[sfvfdchief]

WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THOSE PRICES ON SCBA, I HAVE BEEN QOUTED SEVERAL TIMES AT 5GRAND FOR SCOTT 4.5 50'S

[ksmith31]

I got two quotes for SCBAs that are Scott NxG2 4.5, 45-minute CBRN compliant and both quotes came back to over $5,000. One was over $300 higher than the other. I'd like to see some lower quotes as well. Also, I'm the one who listed all three choices. I chose to do this as we will not be using these for one particular purpose, we will be using them for all three. I thought they needed to know that these SCBAs were to be multi-functional. I'd be open to other suggestions, though.

[jpsmith2]

My opinion only, but I think Scott is hosing people on their pricing.

A company up my way was just quoted $4800 with an expected 10% increase before all the money is doled out in the fall.

This is ridiculous.

A quote we got from Survivair was $4080. If we buy from them, it'll probably wind up lower. We haven't gotten pricing back from MSA yet, but they told us that we would have "plenty leftover" if we decide to switch to them.

I think Scott sees a cash cow and intends on taking advantage of it.

My opinion is they're not worth the money. The little flashy lights & quick connect cylinder in no way made up for the other downfalls of the pack.

We just finished a 6 month evaluation and the only thing Scott managed to do was disappoint us.

Their representatives were uninterested in making the sale, support during the evaluation was non-existent, and feedback from various companies about the NxG2 contained nothing but problems.

The only supportive statements were from people who "Think Scott is the greatest" because that's what they have "always worn" and had never "worn anything else."

Our first choice will be MSA.

Their pack is 4.5 pounds lighter than a NextGen, has a harness with large side handles & a carabiner attachment rated for lifting, is one of the most un-cluttered packs on the market without a bunch o' crap all over it, has a HUD that actually drew my attention, can be upgraded to CBRN for about $89, will be available with a telemetry system with built-in repeaters that should actually work inside buildings, had a regulator that can be attached no matter the orientation (PTC model), and has an optional rescue belt with escape system.

(Critics will of course bring up a point about legal issues purported to be surrounding the escape belt.)

... Sorry this is a little off base, but my impressions of Scott over the last six months has been so bad, and that of MSA so good that I just had to reply.