Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Fire Medical

 

TO:

David L. Corliss, City Manager

 

FROM:

Mark Bradford, Fire Chief

 

Date:

April 14, 2009

 

RE:

Grant opportunities

 

 

Each year, the Department applies for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  Grants are awarded to fire departments to enhance their ability to protect the public and fire service personnel from fire and related hazards.  Four types of grants are available through the AFG: Vehicles, Operations and Safety, Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S), and Facilities.

 

Background

The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical services organizations. Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders to obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources needed to protect the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards. The Grant Programs Directorate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency administers the grants in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration. For fiscal year 2005, Congress reauthorized the Assistance to Firefighters Grants for an additional 5 years through 2010.

 

Nationally, the AFG awards, which will be distributed in phases (rounds), will ultimately provide approximately $510 million to fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations throughout the country. AFG awards aim to enhance response capabilities and to more effectively protect the health and safety of the public with respect to fire and other hazards. The grants enable local fire departments and emergency medical services organizations to purchase or receive training, conduct first responder health and safety programs, and buy equipment and response vehicles.

 

Each department may submit one application for each type of grants through the AFG.  Our proposals for these grants are listed below in order of priority.

 

1.  Vehicle Acquisition Activity:  Platform ladder

The Department is proposing to submit a grant for partial funding for the purchase of a Ladder Platform vehicle.  Our five-year Capital Improvement Plan includes the replacement of the current 1986 Spartan Aerial Ladder.  The urgent need for replacement is based on the City’s Central Vehicle Maintenance Vehicle Replacement Model Guidelines.  In 2009, this evaluation system indicated this vehicle accumulated 52.27 Replacement Points (our second ladder has accumulated 32.41 Replacement Points).  This program identifies vehicles with 30 points and above as needing immediate consideration for replacement.  The most recent repair required the vehicle to be out of service for a multiple weeks due to limited and obsolete parts.

 

The current ladder is primarily a support and rescue vehicle and must be accompanied by another pumping apparatus in order to provide water flow.  Like the current ladder, the identified replacement vehicle will include a 100’ ladder; however, it will also include a platform for enhanced rescue capability, as well as a pump and water tank so that it could be self sufficient with a four-person crew.  The City contains more than 100 buildings that require access by a 100’ ladder, either due to the building height or its square footage.  Many of these buildings are at the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University campuses.  Given the number of buildings in the City of Lawrence that require a response by a 100’ ladder, the department must maintain two aerial ladders to ensure adequate coverage.  By agreement, one of the ladders must be housed at the station closest to the University of Kansas campus.  The current ladder is rapidly nearing the end of its useful life span, and due to its age, replacement parts are becoming increasingly difficult to find.  Frequent repairs required for maintenance of this aerial ladder significantly reduces its availability.

 

The purchase of a new 100’ ladder will result in improved daily operations, including response due to it being a self-sufficient apparatus not requiring accompaniment by a pumper, less maintenance and down-time required for repair, increase overall operational capabilities including:  aerial platform for rescue, pumping apparatus for both elevated streams and hand lines, and greater adaptability to all missions of the Department including EMS and technical rescue.  The addition of the above enhancements will also provide an additional response vehicle able to respond to any call, regardless of its type.

 

The anticipated cost of an aerial platform ladder is $1,205,591.  Most AFG submittals that are approved are $350,000 and under.  With an 80/20 match for a grant of $350,000, the City would be expected to contribute $70,000 (20%) and FEMA’s contribution would be $280,000 (80%).  The total cost to the City would be $925,591. 

 

 

COST

AMOUNT OF GRANT APPLYING FOR

FEMA 80% OF GRANT REQUEST

CITY SHARE

20%

CITY REMAINING

TOTAL CITY COST

Apparatus: 

Partial funding for Ladder Platform

$1,205,591

$350,000

$280,000

$70,000

$855,591

$925,591

 

 

Since the majority of buildings requiring ladder responses are located on University property and a ladder must be housed at Station No. 5 by agreement with the University, we are recommending that the City consider requesting a University partnership for partial funding toward the purchase of the Ladder.

 

If awarded the grant, FEMA allows for up to 25% of the grant ($70,000 if awarded the requested amount) to be used toward down payment for the purchase of the vehicle. 

 

2.  OPERATIONS AND SAFETY ACTIVITY:  Station Video Conferencing

In February 2008, the Department was awarded accreditation by the Center for Public Safety Excellence.  As part of the accreditation process, the following recommendation regarding Station Video Conferencing was made:

 

            The existing technology should be capitalized by the Department. The fire stations are already networked together so the use of video and conference telecommunicating should be explored. This allows for partial decentralization of current training deliveries and more important, accomplishes training while keeping fire resources in the communities they are responsible to protect. (8C.1)

 

Constant and consistent training is necessary for emergency responders to make quick and appropriate decisions to safely resolve any size incident.  Modern technology will allow us to bring a higher quality and greater quantity of education and training to a larger audience.  The evolving role of emergency services requires daily interaction with other departments and agencies.  Rising costs and decreasing budgets make this interaction a challenge.  Some benefits of this project include:

 

1)     Educational opportunities for firefighters:  In our ever-changing world, better-trained firefighters are safer and more efficient. Daily drills will be expanded to provide up-to-date information. Consistency will be ensured by providing direction to familiar and often practiced topics. Firefighters can spend years trying to obtain a degree.  Distance learning programs will allow firefighters to fulfill the requirements for an Associates Degree in Fire Science in a more timely manner.

 

2)     Multi-Agency Training:  The Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical department has established itself as a community leader for training in Hazardous Materials Response, EMS, Technical Rescue, Incident Management and traditional fire service operations.  Due to manning, geography and funding, educational opportunities for other Emergency Response agencies in NE Kansas are scarce. Our daily training and educational opportunities can be made available to the surrounding areas. Video-conferencing will allow cross training to prevent scene confusion and protect responders.

 

3)     Communication:  Video-conferencing allows seamless communication for multi-agency response as well as training.  A key element to resolution to any emergency is communication.  We will network field personnel with Emergency Management administrators.  This virtual Emergency Operations Center will allow participants to stay within their respective areas.  The proposed system will allow us to coordinate a regional team that has shared training and puts that training into action as a team to resolve large-scale incidents.

 

4)     Community Education:  This resource will allow participation in broadband technology-based networking.  This technology connects many K-12 schools, higher education institutions, public libraries, and hospitals to each other and to the outside world. This system will allow our educators to share basic fire safety training and emergency preparedness with schools and businesses all across the State of Kansas.

 

5)     Improved response times:  Training evolutions take companies out of their primary response territories.    Participation by all city fire units in an average drill session results in many hours of decreased coverage.  By utilizing distance learning, we can provide high quality classroom presentations every day and decrease our response times.

 

6)     Utilize instructors and drill time better:  It is necessary to present material repeatedly in order to reach all members.  Several speakers may be required to present a specific class.  This can result in inconsistent delivery of important topics.  The proposed system will allow us to archive a presentation and broadcast it multiple times over multiple days.  We can better utilize our resource of experts to bring a constant flow of current information.  During re-broadcast, a Training Officer will be available to field questions.  By doing academic presentations to a much larger audience, we will be able to dedicate more time to skill development cultivating teamwork between individual department members.  By receiving the same information, we can all communicate more efficiently and improve working relationships.  Imagine every responder in the county getting the message simultaneously.

 

7)     Cost efficiency:  Video-conferencing will allow us to do this type of training daily with no transportation costs.  Fees for instructors will go farther by reaching larger audiences. 

 

The department has identified its needs for the station video conferencing system, and estimates that $175,000 will be needed.  If awarded a grant for the full amount, the City would have an expected contribution of $35,000.

 

COST

AMOUNT OF GRANT APPLYING FOR

FEMA 80%

BALANCE

CITY 50%

Operations & Safety: Station Video Conferencing

$175,000

$175,000

$140,000

$35,000

$35,000

 

3.  FIRE PREVENTION & SAFETY (FP&S):  Smoke Alarms

The Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FP&S) are part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) and are under the purview of the Grant Programs Directorate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FP&S grants support projects that enhance the safety of the public and firefighters from fire and related hazards. The primary goal is to target high-risk populations and mitigate high incidences of death and injury. Examples of the types of projects supported by FP&S include fire prevention and public safety education campaigns, juvenile fire setter interventions, media campaigns, and arson prevention and awareness programs.

 

There are an estimated 35,098[1] households in the City of Lawrence.  In April of 2006, in response to a gasoline leak at Presto Phillips 66, a survey of households in the area was conducted and indicated that nearly 30 percent were without working smoke alarms.  Extrapolating this figure to the general population means that approximately 10,529 households within City limits do not have working smoke alarms.  The Department has identified a sealed, tamper-resistant smoke detector with a 10-year life span available for purchase for $16 each.  The cost to furnish the estimated households without operable smoke alarms would be $168,464, with the cost to the City being $33,693.

 

 

COST

AMOUNT OF GRANT APPLYING FOR

FEMA 80%

BALANCE

CITY

SHARE

Fire Prevention & Safety:

Smoke Alarms

$168,464

$168,464

$134,771

$33,693

$33,693

 

4.  FACILITIES: Remodel Station No. 1

Information regarding the grant for facilities is not yet available; however, when it is released, the Department would like to submit an application for funding the remodel of Station No. 1.  Grant funds may be used for remodeling, but only if the remodeling is relative to other grant activities and has a direct impact on the accomplishment of the grant activities. For example, FEMA will allow for remodeling of a room in a station to accommodate training if training is also a grant activity.

 

The remodeling of Station No. 1 was identified as a Specific Recommendation (#5) during our accreditation process, and the following recommendation was made:

 

Fire Station No.1 has served the City of Lawrence for many years. Many areas of the station no longer meet the space allocation needs for many functions carried on by LDCFM at that facility. It is recommended that Fire Station No. 1 be extensively remodeled or replaced. (6A.1).

 

The remodel of Station No. 1 is currently in the Capital Improvement Plan with a request date of 2009.  It has been a scheduled item the past several years; however, due to budget restrictions it has been pushed back to 2010. 

 

 

COST

AMOUNT OF GRANT APPLYING FOR

FEMA 80%

BALANCE

CITY SHARE

Facilities: Station No. 1

$1.2 M

$1.2 M

$960,000

$240,000

$240,000

 

CONCLUSION

We are requesting authorization to pursue these grants.  The FY 2009 AFG Grants application period is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, April 15, 2009, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Applications for grants must be received by May 20, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  Grants are awarded in “rounds”, which means there is no identifiable deadline when we will be notified whether our grants have been awarded.  As of April 10, 2009, FEMA was on it’s 32nd Round of distributing FY 2008 AFG grant awards.  Typically, FEMA prefers to see the grant money spent and the grant closed out within one year after the award.

RANK

 

COST

AMOUNT OF GRANT APPLYING FOR

FEMA SHARE

80%

CITY

SHARE

20%

TOTAL CITY COST

1

Apparatus:  Partial funding for Ladder Platform

$1,205,591

$350,000

$280,000

$70,000

$925,591

2

Operations & Safety: Station Video Conferencing

$175,000

$175,000

$140,000

$35,000

$35,000

3

Fire Prevention & Safety:

Smoke Alarms

$168,464

$168,464

$134,771

$33,693

$33,693

4

Facilities: Station No. 1

$1.2 M

$1.2 M

$960,000

$240,000

$240,000

TOTAL

 

$2,749,055

$1,893,464

$1,514,771

$378,693

$1,234,284

 


[1] 2007 Census estimate for City of Lawrence is 89,852.  General U.S. population estimates are 2.56 people per household.