04 AFG leftover

[Raymond7501]

Hey folks, I need some input. We have a significant amount of $ left over from 04. I know this can only be used for fire prevention (yep, already used the first 5k). I've read the program guidance. What we're looking for is maybe some small scale fire prevention education project. The only school in our rural district is a Christian Acadamy with about 16 students so we don't need a trailer. I would like to justify the purchase of a laptop and multimedia projector, but have had no sucess thus far of finding powerpoint lesson presentations.Are there any success stories out there?

[k3twpfire]

We created our own power point presentation.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

I didn't look at it yet, but I did download all 14 CDs from LSU :http://feti.lsu.edu/municipal/NFA/TRADE/

In CD1 is a presentation based on the Essentials Fire Prevention chapter, and at least one other training, but I don't think the 2nd one is a PPT. Also check around USFA's publications web site, there are a ton of materials there available for free, including some videos that could be played through the projector, and probably some materials that could be turned into a PPT presentation.

On a side note, if you go after the stuff on that web site, and it is all great training material, make sure you're on broadband, it really is 500+ MB per CD. I made use of the DVD burner at the office to make 2 discs from 14. CDs 1 and 8 have PPTs for nearly every Essentials chapter, so now we don't have to reinvent the wheel for our recruit class next month. Since there already aren't enough hours in the day...

[jboczek]

Raymond, you don't need to use just power point presentations. Get a laptop with a DVD player and there are several companies that produce great DVDs for fire prevention. We used some of our leftover funds to get DVDs and videos since we had already gotten the laptop and projector as part of our training portion of the grant.

[ktb9780]

Good point Jack!

[Greenacres2]

Jack,
Would you mind sharing some info on what you picked up and your level of satisfaction on some of the vendors? We were awarded an FPS grant and are shopping for quality DVD and/or PPT presentations geared to elementary and pre-school kids. Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Earl McLain

[jboczek]

What we got came from The Idea Bank. I honestly haven't looked at everything yet, but what I have reviewed is pretty good. We even caught them on sale and got more than we thought we could afford.

[neiowa]

We had same deal. Wanted/needed a PC/laptop and fire prevention program a good enough excuse. FEMA Grant guys took about 16days to approve our ammendment request (longer than I expected). Bought laptop and LCD project last Sunday (Best Buy has a good Optoma XGA projector on sale this week for $999 2000lumin).

We're planning to get a couple of the new NFPA DVDs around $400ea (they are pretty dang proud of their videos so BETTER be excellent). Fire's Fury looked interesting

And Community Kit or Sparkys Classroom. Anyone have these or feedback on them?

[dixiechicknc]

Don't forget to include your daycare facilities (private, licensed & unlicensed) in that count for fire prevention #'s. It's a great justification. You can produce a VERY basic tool for them...will take some work, but it's out there...

(Will help your numbers too, since you don't have a big school). Take a little research to find all of those 'Sally's after school care's' etc etc, but will help when you can say we have _____ number of private daycares that no one has EVER been in. Pretty strong argument for some FP material.

(Oh, and any Nursing home facilities, if you have any. All that's part of a risk assessment. So if you're doing all this now, for your extra funds, half way there, towards a Fire Prevention grant, if you want to build on that. Just FYI)

** Also, the NFPA has a Risk Watch Program that includes info that would be useful for the Fire Prevention/Safety grant or any additonal funds. It's a comprehensive program that covers everything from Fire Safety to Bike/Home Safety. Here's a link to their website. http://www.nfpa.org/riskwatch/

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Nearly every state requires registration of home based day cares, so you should be able to get a list of all licensed day cares (home based and otherwise) in your area.

[dixiechicknc]

We have alot here under the table, though. So, last year before FP grant, sent out the guys for a Risk Assessment. Amazing how many never reported. If it's under a certain number of children in the home (so I was told) they don't have to report, apparently, in our state...

(Just to clarify...Brian. Wasn't trying to sound 'all knowing'. If a department is thinking of a FP/S grant, worth the time, to be able to say they've done the research and know they have ____ number of private unlicensed daycare facilities.)

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Didn't take it that way at all. My own personal belief is that every department needs to know this info because it should be known, not just for the grants. You don't know if you're properly serving your public if you don't know who they are.

And I know all about under the table. We have under the table mental health care houses popping up all of the time in our area. Neighbors don't even know that's what they are until we make a call there. Single family home, 5-6 adults in need of assistance, 1 aide on duty 24/7. Not saying everyone doesn't deserve to have a roof over their head, just not what the floorplans are meant for. Found out a few are being used as hospices as well.

[Raymond7501]

Thanks for the input guys (used in a nongender specific manner). This will eliminate some cold trailing on my part. If anyone else has anymore input, by all means, lett'r rip.

[Greenacres2]

Thanks for the info. It's been a while since i've looked at the Idea Bank site--kind of forgot about them.

[MSVFD18]

ok so now we have 11k left in our funds with one more thing to purchase... now when we finally purchase that item we will be left with a little less than 5k like $4900. so what i am asking is that as long as im under 5k then we can use the left over funds for extra 1010 helments since it will be under the PPE catagory for 2004 AFG. So what im getting at is that as long as im under 5k then it doesnt have to go to fire prevention RIGHT?

[onebugle]

That's correct. $5000 and under can be used for the helmets. Anything over $5000 must go to towards a fire prevention program with the feds approval.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

In case anyone was losing sleep, they also added 54 awards to the 2004 AFG today with the excess funds.