2012 AFG Guidelines posted

[BC79er]

Most Ops looks the same, but on Vehicles....

Under Type Definitions and I quote: Aerials to include quints of any size

Rescues are now Priority 1 for Urban and Suburban

Aerials is under Priority 1 for Rural, which means all Aerials per the definition. 75ft, 100ft, pump or no pump.

[rands1]

Application period is from 6-11-12 to 7-06-12. Looks like a 3 week window. Time to get busy. Good luck to all.

[Wolf8552]

"AFG will evaluate and act on applications within 90 days following close of the application period. It is projected that all awards will be made on or before September 30, 2012, but no later than March 31, 2013."

Really?

[rands1]

We were told today that regionals will not go directly to peer review as they did last year. They will be scored just like any other application.

[BC79er]

Wolf, that's their way of trying to comply with the unwritten but threatening mandate to get things back on the old schedule of AFG in the Spring. Basically was some scuttlebutt that they wouldn't give funding for 2013 if 2012 didn't move the app periods back around, so would bypass an AFG next summer for the next one in March 2014. Technically all of the awards are known within a week of Peer they're just released as applicants can accept them so it's not really something that can be sped up a lot. So therein lies the loophole to make sure there's a 2013 program.

On the regionals once a few people in certain places realized that they weren't scored like other apps after a certain posting mentioning that fact was brought to light then they started to look at them more closely. Many folks tried to sneak into PPE and SCBA regionals that were prior awardees or didn't have old enough equipment for replacement in an Ops grant. Computer scoring only checked eligibility, not age/need for the request. Problem solved.

Just like the call volume and population being removed from computer scoring on Ops apps, reduced in weighting on Vehicles. They finally listened to everyone saying it doesn't matter whether it's 1 fire a year or 20 a month, the risk is still the same using 20 year old PPE. Someone with no gear or stuff over 20 needs it just as bad if not worse than anyone else, even if they have no structure fires in the prior year. A bunch of us have been arguing for a long time that all PPE apps should get to Peer when the ages are over 10. Let them argue their case and go from there. Looks like that's happening so while slow they make steady progress.