Here come the DJ's... in PDF!

[utfd701]

Got a DJ on my skid unit yesterday. Heads up folks, these do not appear to be just computer DJ's. I was assured this project went to panel by my regional contact.

[WVFD705]

Kurt, I have no doubt there are more mistakes. That's why I specified "at least one".

If you or anyone else have any classes anywhere within a day's drive of Woodson, Texas, I would sure be interested in attending.

[Troyboy67]

The DJs are boiler plate. I had one for a department with two vehicles; 1957 and 1980. Low call volume is the only explanation, but the DJ mentioned that the fleet age was not significant enough to warrant consideration.

We were requesting a grant to fund the replacement of our 1992 Ford 350 diesel rescue truck with 151,077 miles on it that we use for ALL our first responder calls. We don't transport so the priority isn't high enough, or some such thing

[expertshot]

Got one on our pumper app. today. We still have a pending ops app. for air-paks and equipment. Keeping fingers crossed.

[ktb9780]

Got a DJ on my skid unit yesterday. Heads up folks, these do not appear to be just computer DJ's. I was assured this project went to panel by my regional contact.

Gotta disagree with you there guy. Think you may have gotten some bad information. According to the program office in Washington DC, there have been no "peer rejection" notices released as of yet.I'll double check again Monday and post but, I am about 99.9% sure these are strictly CDJs.

[ktb9780]

Kurt, I have no doubt there are more mistakes. That's why I specified "at least one".

If you or anyone else have any classes anywhere within a day's drive of Woodson, Texas, I would sure be interested in attending.

You know I was very surprised this year. Usually I have 2-3 departments hosting me in Texas and this year not a single department requested me to come out there If you know anyone near Dallas /Ft Worth area that is willing to host a class in exchange for a couple of free seats, I'll be more than glad to come out there. I need 10 students to bring me out!

[ktb9780]

We were requesting a grant to fund the replacement of our 1992 Ford 350 diesel rescue truck with 151,077 miles on it that we use for ALL our first responder calls. We don't transport so the priority isn't high enough, or some such thing

Troyboy67 were you going after a rescue truck or an ambulance? There will be so few ambulances given out that you can probably count them on 2-hands across US. Now if you went after replacing your "rescue truck", your main problem was that a rescue truck for a rural department is a Priority #2 vehicle. That app was doomed right out of the box. They have not funded anything less than a Priority # 1 vehicle since about 2003.

[asemedic]

@ ktb9780, Thanks for the heads up last weekend. Came in just like clockwork. DJ in the morning for the tanker and call from the Rep office on the OPS that afternoon. 17th round too, by far the earliest we have seen in an award.

Thanks again,

SN

[kylefiremedic]

Troyboy67 were you going after a rescue truck or an ambulance? There will be so few ambulances given out that you can probably count them on 2-hands across US. Now if you went after replacing your "rescue truck", your main problem was that a rescue truck for a rural department is a Priority #2 vehicle. That app was doomed right out of the box. They have not funded anything less than a Priority # 1 vehicle since about 2003.

Kurt - I know funding is limited to non-affiliated EMS agencies but why so few ambulances? What makes them a lesser priority for non-affiliated EMS agencies than a pumper for a fire department?

[ktb9780]

Kurt - I know funding is limited to non-affiliated EMS agencies but why so few ambulances? What makes them a lesser priority for non-affiliated EMS agencies than a pumper for a fire department?

Don't forget that only 25% of all AFG money goes for vehicles. Non-affiliated EMS only gets 2% of that. If my math is right that means there is only about $1.4 million for ambulances.. about 9 coaches at $150K a pop.Somebody feel free to correct my math here if I'm wrong on this.

[ktb9780]

@ ktb9780, Thanks for the heads up last weekend. Came in just like clockwork. DJ in the morning for the tanker and call from the Rep office on the OPS that afternoon. 17th round too, by far the earliest we have seen in an award.

Thanks again,

SN

My pleasure Steve

[Troyboy67]

Troyboy67 were you going after a rescue truck or an ambulance? There will be so few ambulances given out that you can probably count them on 2-hands across US. Now if you went after replacing your "rescue truck", your main problem was that a rescue truck for a rural department is a Priority #2 vehicle. That app was doomed right out of the box. They have not funded anything less than a Priority # 1 vehicle since about 2003.

Thanks for making it simple to understand. It took four pages in the DJ to say what you told me in a single sentence..

[expertshot]

The DJs are boiler plate. I had one for a department with two vehicles; 1957 and 1980. Low call volume is the only explanation, but the DJ mentioned that the fleet age was not significant enough to warrant consideration.

Our vehicle application rejection letter also cited the age of the fleet. We lost a pumper and were trying to replace it. At least in our case, FEMA's letter somewhat made sense. The two pumpers we currently have are from 1997 and 2005. Shortly before the application was submitted, the department purchased: a new buggy for the chief, a new brush truck to replace one that was lost in 2011, a tower platform to replace the 1986 seagrave (rejected on an AFG app.), and refurbished the 1988 Rescue Squad. The local gov. almost maxed out its borrowing level with that and other critical projects. Anyway, the age of the fleet is very new. Would it matter if the application was submitted under replacement or under purchasing new to add to the fleet? In our case, we always had three pumpers but removed one from the fleet and utilized a contract agreement to supplement the missing pumper. Long story short, contract went south and was terminated so the department is down one pumper. There are more people, more occupancies, and more aid requests...yet running with a insufficient fleet. Did I mention the air-paks that are around twenty years old? Still pending on that app., two years in a row.

[WVFD705]

Kurt - I know funding is limited to non-affiliated EMS agencies but why so few ambulances? What makes them a lesser priority for non-affiliated EMS agencies than a pumper for a fire department?

Does your non-affiliated EMS charge for transportation? If not, can they?

Also, consider the difference in scope of the calls. On most medical calls, failure of the responding vehicle doesn't increase the scope of the call. If a person is in cardiac arrest, the people around that person don't generally start going into cardiac arrest exponentially. If the vehicle fails, the person in need of medical care is in bad shape, and the medics may be embarrassed at being stranded along the roadside, but that's about it for worst-case scenario.

The scope of a fire and the zone of impact is completely different. The fire may start its life relatively small and easy to extinguish. But fire grows exponentially and may continue growing until it is extinguished. The larger it grows, the harder it is to extinguish, and the more danger it poses to firefighters trying to extinguish it and to the public at large. The threat posed from something like a wildfire can extent to large areas and large populations. The damage can be extensive, and vast sums of money required to rebuild. FEMA will then be on the hook for assisting in the repair and rebuilding efforts, which can run into the billions. So from the government and FEMA's perspective, it is cheaper to try and help build up the nation's firefighting capacities than it is to go around paying for cleanup and rebuilding when those capacities prove inadequate.

[peak85]

Anymore dj's going out, still have one for ppe pending

[ktb9780]

Anymore dj's going out, still have one for ppe pending

The peer review DJs have not gone out yet.

[olneyfd]

As was already mentioned...Our DJ stated fleet age as a consideration as well. Average age of fleet was 22 years, but vehicle we were trying to replace was 44 years old. Sometimes I wish we were back to before computers as they don't take any factors into account and just react to raw data.

Our vehicle application rejection letter also cited the age of the fleet. We lost a pumper and were trying to replace it. At least in our case, FEMA's letter somewhat made sense. The two pumpers we currently have are from 1997 and 2005. Shortly before the application was submitted, the department purchased: a new buggy for the chief, a new brush truck to replace one that was lost in 2011, a tower platform to replace the 1986 seagrave (rejected on an AFG app.), and refurbished the 1988 Rescue Squad. The local gov. almost maxed out its borrowing level with that and other critical projects. Anyway, the age of the fleet is very new. Would it matter if the application was submitted under replacement or under purchasing new to add to the fleet? In our case, we always had three pumpers but removed one from the fleet and utilized a contract agreement to supplement the missing pumper. Long story short, contract went south and was terminated so the department is down one pumper. There are more people, more occupancies, and more aid requests...yet running with a insufficient fleet. Did I mention the air-paks that are around twenty years old? Still pending on that app., two years in a row.

[EastKyFF]

As was already mentioned...Our DJ stated fleet age as a consideration as well. Average age of fleet was 22 years, but vehicle we were trying to replace was 44 years old. Sometimes I wish we were back to before computers as they don't take any factors into account and just react to raw data.

Don't bet on the accuracy of the reasons cited in your DJ. Those in my own department's DJ made absolutely no sense.

[expertshot]

Given that there are less than a quarter of the funds in AFG OPS and Safety left available, I was wondering about partial awards. I've heard that it is possible FEMA will contact a department and ask whether they want a partial award. How does this process work? Is their an opportunity for a department to clean "the bottom of the barrel" as funds run out? No rejection notice yet on equipment or PPE. Hoping to get something from FEMA.

[chief14oc]

At the FDIC session AFG officials said that the peer DJ's would be out in the next couple of weeks.