Prevention Grant & AFG Question

[FireMedic12]

So, it has been awhile since we have heard anything about our Regional AFG Grant -- we have already been denied for the vehicle acquisition and the other local dept. grant that we applied for. Has anyone else had any responses about their Regional Grants? I have not seen any regional grants approved on the AFG Website yet -- are they waiting for the very end or something?

FP&S GRANT QUESTION:

I am writing a grant for a smoke detector/battery program -- but would also like to include a sort of "Tot Finder" program but not use the tot finder stickers. I am thinking more along the lines of the following (please let me know if any of you have done this, or any suggestions)

I want to get reflective stickers like the tot finder stickers that have special "codes" on them, such as a large blue wheelchair for handicapped or an ear for hearing impared, or a letter + number combination for how many children are residing...

then, when the stickers are given to the homeowner with their smoke detector and batteries, I would like to have them fill out a registration paper, that will then be transferred to dispatch, so when we are toned on an alarm to that specific address, they will notify us of a "special hazard" such as the sticker and what the sticker is for (IE: Hearing impared)

Has anyone done this before or know of any companies who commercially make this type of system?

Thanks for everyone's help in advance!

[wtfd2940]

Personally, I would forget the stickers. Departments in my area handed out those things years ago but have since stopped. All they do is advertise where your children are in your home and which homes have vulnerable residents occupying them. Also the stickers are often left on the windows years following the said individuals leaving or selling their home. Furthermore when you arrive on scene of a house fire do your tactics change because you have a sticker on a window. A search is to be conducted anyway. I'm not knocking your idea but I would leave it out or find something else to add. Collecting the information for dispatch is a good idea though, and is really all you need. Maybe you can put in for safety literature to give to your residents in conjuction with your smoke detectors/batteries. When you hand out your detectors and have them fill out paperwork you can provide them with NFPA type literature. Just my 2 cents.

[Midland35]

Guidance-ineligible activities-community projects that include the use of tot/finder/child finder, elderly or pet finder decals.

Our county was awarded a regional for commuications last month.

[ktb9780]

I would have to agree tot finder stickers of any type are not going to be eligible and would endanger your entire grant. Leave them out.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Exterior tot-finder stickers have been banned in many communities because it also has been found as a tool of the pedophile in finding victims. I'm not sure where she got it but my mother-in-law found one for the interior bedroom door when we moved in with her briefly last year while relocating.

But I'm with wtfd, basic search tactics shouldn't change anyway. How many times has the child been found in another room after getting scared, regardless of time of day. Teaching them to get out or shelter in place is the best tool of all, knowledge.

[7Stones]

I thought about the same idea but FPS guidance clearly excludes any stickers from funding. I do like your voluntary registration program, however. This pre-incident information gathering would be a great asset when you are responding to a house fire. If dispatch could tell you that there was someone in a wheelchair, or other limited mobility situation, you would know on arrival that you need to be ready to help them out. The same could be true of children. We may not be able to have a sticker on a window or door but it dispatch knows the information they can convey it to us enroute so we are ready to perform primary searches when we arrive on scene. Since FPS identifies children and the elderly as taget populations it seems like we could use FPS money to develop a residential pre-incident fire database to help us respond more rapidly and effectively to those in need.

I like the way you think. Whether these ideas are fundable is a whole nothing kettle of fish.

Jon

[wtfd2940]

Ok, I've done this numerous times before with previous grants but I think I am suffering from burnout. How do I calculate cost/benefit. Lets just say I have a program that costs $12,000 with a target population of 10,250. Do I simply divide the cost by the population? Normally I think I would also divide it by the life expectancy but with fire prevention for example there isn't really a life expectancy for a detector program.


Secondly, what is viewed as a good cost/benefit ratio? Below $2.00 per person for example.

[onebugle]

Ok, I've done this numerous times before with previous grants but I think I am suffering from burnout. How do I calculate cost/benefit. Lets just say I have a program that costs $12,000 with a target population of 10,250. Do I simply divide the cost by the population? Normally I think I would also divide it by the life expectancy but with fire prevention for example there isn't really a life expectancy for a detector program.


Secondly, what is viewed as a good cost/benefit ratio? Below $2.00 per person for example.

The simplist way is to divide cost by population to determine cost/benefit, which equates to $1.17/person.

Actually there is a life expectancy for detectors. Smoke detectors: 10 years.
CO or CO/Smoke detectors: 5 years.

IMO below $2.00 is a good cost/benefit ratio for that type of program.

[FireMedic12]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys, I did just read today that the stickers were not eligible, and I didn't even think about the sex offender side of it. Good thoughts.

I will start puting this thing together -- but where are people getting their detectors from? How many are you ordering? We have an estimated population of around 15000 and I want a minimum of ONE detector per household -- I would like to see TWO but I'm not sure if that is going to happen or not.

I also would like to see us get either Dual Sensor detectors or Photoelectric sensors only. What do we think?

[WJVaughn]

Funny thing about detectors. Did any body else's local news pick up the story on how well the photo electrics actually work? I had a station out of Nashville pick up the story and did their own test out at the fire school. The comparisons between the types were pretty scary in how well and how soon a particular type of detector actually worked. Local Fire School instructor was amazed at the test.
Link to story http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=7323147

[Chief2701]

I would have to agree tot finder stickers of any type are not going to be eligible and would endanger your entire grant. Leave them out.

A point that should be made here is to totally understand eligible requests that are within the grant guidelines. This year at the SAFER peer review , grants were kicked because of ie: Bunker gear and equipment requests in an R & R request. These grants won't normally even make peer review.

[WJVaughn]

Speaking of PEER reviews. How do you get picked to be on the review board? I think I would like to do that just see how the things work

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Through the 9 national organizations. The list is on DHS's site. IAFC, IAFF, Fire Marshal's etc, etc. They aim for 2/3rds of the Peer Reviers to be new to that application review so it's not the same people over and over.

[Chief2701]

Through the 9 national organizations. The list is on DHS's site. IAFC, IAFF, Fire Marshal's etc, etc. They aim for 2/3rds of the Peer Reviers to be new to that application review so it's not the same people over and over.

I was approached and asked if I was interested throught the Arson Investigators group, which is one of the 9 disiplines mentioned above.