Fire Prevention and Safety. FP&S

[ktb9780]

Womanfirefighter there are specific provisions i withinthe FP&S for paying for edcuational programs promoting Firewise and other programs directed at wildfire type issues. I would suggest that you start there since your data seems to back that up.

[HuntPA]

Here's an interesting situation we have. The county fire association is just that, an association of the county's independent departments. Years ago, the county used to give money to the county association. As such, the association bought a smokehouse trailer for public education / safety. Since then, the county has stopped the funding. With no other means of income, the association is to the point where it can no longer afford the maintenance and insurance on the trailer. I would like to apply for funding to repair what is wrong with the trailer as well as fund a couple years' worth of insurance. Does this sound feasible? I am a little uncertain as it is basically a regional application as most of the county uses the trailer, but it is owned by a single entity.

[WJVaughn]

Unless the Guidance has changed and I missed it I do not believe you can write for sustainable cost on an item. The most you can get by with is paying for an extended warranty up front.

[ktb9780]

If the cost of repairs are reasonable and are going to give you another 10 years or so of using the trailer then ask for a token amount to buy the trailer for your own department and ask for some bucks to repair it and put it back in service. Now, in order to get funded you are going to have to also explain the program you will do with the trailer after it is repaired.I woudl seek out a local civic club, Lion's Civitan etc. and approach them about possibly securing insurance policy for it as a donation to your department.

[islandfire03]

How much can the insurance on a trailer be? The liability should be covered under the departments policy , which would only leave collateral collision and whatever your state requires as minimum coverage. My trailers cost an average of $35.00 for a year.
What about a votech school for repairs ? They are usually looking for hands on projects for students to learn on. minimal cost other than parts.

[HuntPA]

Vo Tech has done some repairs, however, they tend to be quite slow (last repairs took a full year and were not finished). As for the insurance, it is the general liability that is killing the county association. Total is around $950 / yr. When a department hosts the trailer, they are covering the liability, but that coverage is only for the actual event. So any time there is not an active event, the association has to have a liability policy. It is also necessary as the association's name is on the side of the unit, so we know that the law suit will name the association.

We have also considered "selling" the trailer to a department and having everyone pitch in to cover the increase in insurance. The biggest problem with that is then who will be responsible for maintenance, storage, etc. And we all know in the volunteer world that what may be a perfectly fine relationship now, may have a completely different dynamic after the next officers are elected.

[1610 medic]

Looking for some info on a sign grant for thid year. Have nevet done a FPG before.

[BC79er]

FP&S won't cover the insurance, might consider the maintenance but just like refurbishing a truck you'd have to have the cost comparisons in there for new vs fixed. Just depends on what's wrong with it.

To answer an earlier post in the thread we picked up $105k last year for a decked out trailer with the storm packages and other fun stuff on it. Combined effort of course, the average single department will have a lot of trouble doing that just based on the numbers.

[wtfd2940]

This may have been covered before but I was just going through the guidance. I see that LED signs are available once again. Writing a grant for a sign seems to me to be an uphill battle (they are all an uphill battle), as there isn't much to write about. Yes, I would get in detail about the impact, audiance, viewing potential, and whatnot but it doesn't seem like something you can really build a solid project around. Has anyone had success in the past with these signs, when they were available before? I am contemplating doing this simply because we have a very outdated, non LED sign that is in poor shape. Our location happens to be on a very well traveled major roadway. If anyone has been successful and has anything to share I would be interested in hearing how you did it, and seeing how you wrote it.

RsnFyr77@comcast.net

[JAM1096]

This may have been covered before but I was just going through the guidance. I see that LED signs are available once again. Writing a grant for a sign seems to me to be an uphill battle (they are all an uphill battle), as there isn't much to write about. Yes, I would get in detail about the impact, audiance, viewing potential, and whatnot but it doesn't seem like something you can really build a solid project around. Has anyone had success in the past with these signs, when they were available before? I am contemplating doing this simply because we have a very outdated, non LED sign that is in poor shape. Our location happens to be on a very well traveled major roadway. If anyone has been successful and has anything to share I would be interested in hearing how you did it, and seeing how you wrote it.

RsnFyr77@comcast.net

We are in the same boat here. I would also be interested in any help on this topic.

jpluta@addisonfire.org

[olneyfd]

We are looking into requesting funding for an inflatable type fire safety house. We have been looking at the ones form Inflatable Images and Inflatable Firehouse. Anyone out there have experience with writing for any of these type of items? This will be our first FP&S attempt. We do a lot of school type presentations and in the past have had to settle for the old cardboard box smoke maze. I think we could justify this type of item for our department.

[ktb9780]

We are looking into requesting funding for an inflatable type fire safety house. We have been looking at the ones form Inflatable Images and Inflatable Firehouse. Anyone out there have experience with writing for any of these type of items? This will be our first FP&S attempt. We do a lot of school type presentations and in the past have had to settle for the old cardboard box smoke maze. I think we could justify this type of item for our department.

A quick word to the wise here. You need to ask and answer two big questions before going after this project:

1.) How do I know that the lessons this inflatable fire house is designed to teach are even needed? How do I know there is in fact a problem with these kids?

2.) How will I prove that after they have been through this lesson plan using the house, that their level of knowledge has actually increased?

[sfdrescue21]

I've got a question about FP&S. How far does the grant go in covering "personnel" costs? We have a city department that adopted The 2006 IFC and is going to soon adopt a newer version. Currently we have no way of enforcing the code (no inspector). after adoption we have had two commercial fires that destroyed not only their business but also caused damage to others. Neither resulted in fatalities but both resulted in firefighter injuries and civilian injuries. After investigation we found that both could have been prevented with code enforcement. One was a faulty extension cord feeding a commercial dryer and the other was fire load for the building.

We also currently only have one volunteer certified as an investigator, that has little to no availability, a fire safety program that is lack luster at best, and no smoke detector program.

The project we have in mind is to appoint and fund a FP&S officer on an annual salary. We would ask for the first year funding on this position. (roughly $25,000). The responsibilities of this position would include enforcement of the IFC, fire prevention programs, investigation of every fire, and promote and install smoke detectors. We did a smoke detector survey of 2000 of our 7000 residents and found that about 22% are without or have non-working smoke detectors in the home. We have roughly 400 businesses in our city. We do not have any full time staff.

I know the question of sustainability will arise. We have approached city council and the city administrator and they have agreed that after January 1st They will raise the business license fee by $50 (currently cost is about $175) with the additional ear marked for funding of the Inspector/Investigator/ Prevention position. The city is also in the process of passing a city ordinance requiring fire inspection of all rental property in the city between occupancy periods (to ensure smoke detectors, proper wiring protection etc. (another 500 buildings). This would allow the funding of the position with a modest salary and benefits. It wouldn't be until Jan 1 2014 before the city could fund the position on it's own. Which if we don't jump start the program soon they may lose interest, especially with elections next year.

We are only looking for the initial jump start. The question is I guess is this plausible and fund able through FP&S? We hit all of the priorities for funding (smoke detectors, code enforcement, prevention, and investigation of every fire) with this proposal. Just want to know where the fund-able cut off is on personnel.

[BC79er]

They've covered OT costs in other awards for people to attend the training, fulltime costs have been shied away from normally but usually because of sustainability questions. Sounds like that's covered so give it a shot.

[ktb9780]

The project appears plausible but I cannot help but notice one thing here that seems off and that is the salary for the position. Is the city proposing to throw in the retirement,vacation, sick time, w/c. health insurance etc. that a full time position would entail? I mean $25K a year is only $12 per hr based on a 40 hr fulltime work schedule and I seriously wonder where you are going to find someone with the experience and qualifications that you need for this proposed position ( since you do not mention that you are training this person for those tasks). I mean a building code inspector that has arson investigation training and experience as well for $12 an hour does not to me sound feasible but, that's just my opinion... your's may differ.

[LVFD301]

Remember 25k in an annual salary will cost around 35k when you figure the employer share of taxes. (Usually considered to average around 1.25 to 1.4 times the base rate)

Add in a vehicle, fuel, maintenance, cell phone, radio, you are easily looking at an underpaid jack of all trades that costs 50K or better a year.

Your figures of 400 businesses, and 500 rental properties bring that funding annually to $22,500, IF they all pay. I can guarantee they won't all pay.

I think it is going to be a tough sell in peer.

Ozark Missouri got funding for a full time position for codes in last year (I think).

[fire41108]

Ok we tried for a LED sign last year and had no luck. For all the ones that were successful with yours can you please pass on some help maybe a narrative. after two big issues here we had bad meadia info given out. my email is kmoulton@zonetonfire.com

Thank you

[pjdnsjackson]

Can anyone email me successful narratives for a house sign and smoke detector FP&S Grant. Much appreciated.
philjackson@ci.galion.oh.us

[CordovaFire]

We are also trying to perfect an LED sign project, and help, information, or narrative material would be greatly appreciated. cordovafirerescue@att.net Thanks everyone.

[armold]

I will try sign this year. I know it is a great idea and will enjoy it.

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