Almarante Fire District
Okaloosa County
Proposal Category: Firefighting Vehicle
District Served:
The
Almarante fire district covers approximately 86 square miles, including the
community of Almarante and surrounding area in northern
At Almarante, Route 602 & Hwy 2 join Highway 85, a major
highway and a main evacuation route for hurricanes and other disasters.
Frequently, we are the first emergency personnel at the scene of a traffic
accident or medical emergency, and are called upon to put out a fire, treat
injuries, or perform other vital functions. According to past records of calls
within our district, the majority of calls have been of two major types: the
primary type has been
We are the closest department to act as secondary response for the
community of Laurel Hill (population 549),[1] which contains the area
pre-K-high school center (enrollment 443 + 61 staff).[2] The firehouse is
approximately 3 miles from downtown Laurel Hill and 4 miles from the high
school. As Eglin Air Force Base covers much of the county, Laurel Hill is
designated as an “Urban-Wildland Interface Community within the vicinity of
Federal lands that are at high risk from wildfire.”[3]
Financial statement:
Due
to general budget restraints, our district is under funded and overburdened,
and we cannot fully fund a new primary apparatus to serve and protect the
health and safety, property, and welfare of our community. A decision was
made this year to forgo remodeling the station and dedicate funds to be used
for the acquisition of a new dependable apparatus. Our department cannot afford
to finance a new apparatus on its own, but currently has enough funds available
to meet the matching funds requirement for the proposed amount requested in
this grant. (Itemized budget at the end of narrative.)
Description of truck,
funding, cost sharing:
Per
a quote from KME Florida,[4] we are requesting $107,000 for a Ford F-550
4x4 Commercial Chassis, 4 door Cab with a 250 Gallon Poly Tank & 20 Gallon
Foam Tank, a 500 GPM Midship Mounted PTO Waterous Pump and a FoamPro 2000 Foam
System. We are also requesting $17,680 in equipment for this vehicle. (See
itemized budget for details.)
Included in our proposal is a laptop computer to assist us in
complying with the reporting requirements of the grant and providing
information to the NFIRS. Although we are not currently participating, we will
gladly comply with requirements to report to NFIRS. The laptop, a Dell
SmartStep100N, will cost approximately $1,200.
From the total cost of $125,880 we are requesting $113,292 in grant
funding, and our district can contribute $12,588 to provide matching funding of
10%.
Need:
Most
of the equipment within our department is old, worn-out, or out of date. Our
department has already spent approximately $4,000 to repair our largest
apparatus, a 1969 International pumper. However, due to increasing maintenance
costs and reliability and safety concerns, this is not an effective use of our
limited resources. Our other two vehicles, both inoperable, are a 1956 American
Lafrance Pumper and a 1970 Ford Howe pumper. None of these vehicles can fill
the role of a dependable, versatile fire fighting apparatus that our district
desperately needs.
Most secondary roads in our district are not paved and often lack
professional grading and leveling, so access is very difficult. We serve a
rural area with an unpredictable water supply, poor access, and narrow roads,
which is why we are requesting an all-purpose vehicle. Our circumstances
require a versatile vehicle designed to respond swiftly and deal with a wide
variety of situations and emergencies.
Our functioning vehicle, the 1969 International pumper, can’t access
unpaved roads very well, has slow response times, and cannot reach some
locations at all. It is more suited for structure fires and mutual aid calls,
and isn’t always operational. What our district needs is a vehicle that can
traverse any type of road encountered in a rural setting, carry medical
supplies, handle any medical type of call, and respond in as little time as possible.
The vehicle we are requesting will allow us to work with modern equipment in
good working order, which will greatly enhance the safety of the conditions
under which we work. It will provide rapid response times for both
Overall department morale will increase due to the presence of a
dependable and versatile apparatus. Not to mention the public opinion of
the department as a whole will greatly improve. Members have experienced a
myriad of problems because the apparatus are old and worn-out. This has had
detrimental results, including a decline in membership and an overall decline
in morale. A new apparatus will benefit the community, but also will boost
public opinion of the department as well as generate new interest for
perspective volunteers.
Meeting the
Needs/Summary of Benefits:
The
benefits this funding would bring to our community are enormous. We cannot
overstate how valuable this firefighting vehicle would be in providing vastly
improved protection of the fire fighters, citizenry, property and general well
being of our district.
Reliable,
functioning equipment will have a very positive impact on the health, welfare
and morale of fire fighters and the entire community they serve.
The
northern section of our county is covered by 3 widespread ambulance units. It
can take up to 10 minutes for one of these ALS units to arrive in our district,
thus the presence of a rapid response vehicle is vital to the community’s
health and safety. Four wheel drive capabilities will enable this
apparatus to reach locations not previously accessible by other apparatus
within our district, or by apparatus responding from other districts.
We could provide RIT for adjacent districts. Also, carrying RIT
equipment would enable our fire fighters to rescue trapped and/or unconscious
victims within burning structures with the RIT air pack.
Insurance
rates have increased due to inadequate fire fighting equipment. With a new
vehicle, these rates can be reduced. This will have a significant impact on the
quality of life in this low income community, especially among seniors on fixed
incomes.
Modern
equipment and a multi-function apparatus would enable our fire fighters to
respond rapidly to many types of emergencies previously requiring mutual aid
assistance. Radio capable SCBA equipment greatly improves communications
in the field, while freeing up the hands to do the most important work.
Budget: Vehicle and
Equipment Quote from KME
The
list below gives a general summary of the overall budget for the grant as
proposed.
Administrative
Equipment:
Cost
Dell
SmartStep100N
Laptop
$1200
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal:
$1200
General
Equipment:
Cost
Fire
Hose (2.5” and
1.5”)
$1800
20’ Soft Suction Hose
(2.5”)
$250
12’ Ground Extension
Ladder
$100
Two Combination Spray Nozzles, 95 GPM
Minimum $200
Insulated Pickhead Axe & Insulated Pike Pole (Mounted) $150
80-B;C Rated Dry Chem Fire Extenguisher (Mounted)
$100
2.5 Gallon Fire Extinguisher
(Mounted)
$100
2 Combo Spanner Wrenches & 1 Hydrant Wrench (Mounted) $75
2.5” dble/fem & 2.5” dble/male adapter (Mounted)
$75
Rubber Mallet
(Mounted)
$25
First Aid
Kit
$150
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal:
$3025
RIT/SCBA
Equipment:
Cost
3 AIR-PAK FIFTY, 4500 PSI, 45 MIN. SCBA Gear (Mounted) $9150
(Includes AV-2000 FACEPIECE & ENVOY RADICOM)
3 SPARE CYLINDER, 4500 PSI, 45 MIN.
(Mounted) $2400
RAPID INTERVENTION TEAM-PAK
4.5 $700
SPARE CYLINDER, 4500 PSI, 45 MIN.
(Mounted) $800
Spare AV-2000
FACEPIECE
$170
EZ-FLO REGULATOR
ASSEMBLY $385
ENVOY RADICOM, RELM
MPS
$1050
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal:
$14655
Initial Attack Class
Vehicle:
Cost
NEW
Ford F-550 4x4 Commercial Chassis, 4 door Cab
$107,000
250 Gallon Poly Tank & 20 Gallon Foam Tank
500 GPM Midship Mounted PTO Waterous Pump
FoamPro 2000 Foam System
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Project Budget
Cost: $125,880
[1]
2000 US Government Census, www.census.gov
[2] Okaloosa County School District, 120 Lowery Pl. S.E., Fort Walton
Beach, FL 32548
[3] Federal Register, vol. 66, no. 160, 8/17/01, p.43,394
[4] KME Florida, www.kovatch.com/kmefire,
area contact: Panama Fire Apparatus