The Celina Volunteer Fire Department provides fire protection to the citizens of the City of Celina and the area that surrounds the city limits in Clay County. The total area served is approximately 132 square miles. The area within the city limits is approximately (2) two square miles. The area within the city limits is the only area with fire hydrants. The remainder (majority) of the area served does not have hydrants. Within our total area we protect one high school, one elementary school, each with approximately 500 students and faculty. One 33 bed hospital, one 80 bed nursing home, seven large industrial buildings, three government subsidized apartment complexes and an aging downtown. We also protect two large marinas, a power plant and dam.

We provide this protection with 24 dedicated volunteer firefighters with two engines and one ladder truck. The ladder truck was purchased at auction for $15,000. The engines we purchased in 1997. The 1997 engine is restricted to town use per city ordinance. The used 1976 engine is used as the second engine in town and the first out for the out of town calls. The city of Celina provides the majority of our budget through their general fund. The fire departments annual share is $17,000.00. The Clay County Government allocates $2500.00 per year for calls outside the city limits. This is the basis for our application. We are applying to the grant program for the purchase of a Tanker Pumper with the minimum capacity of 1500 gallons and a pump with the capacity of 1250 gallons per minute. This is to provide an adequate tanker pumper for our rural calls, which is 80% of our total calls. It will also assist in city areas where we have inadequate water.

The chassis must have the capability of carrying a minimum of five firefighters. It must meet all current safety and crash test standards. The truck must be powered with a diesel engine capable of acceleration up 8% grade elevation at 50 mph. It must have adequate primary and auxiliary braking systems. It must be able to travel narrow, curvy country roads and lanes. It must be equipped with on spot chains. It must meet all current NFPA standards for fire equipment of that type. Due to the rural nature of our calls, we are requesting a foam system capable of providing class A foam that will maximize our water supply and improve our initial fire attack. We are asking that it be equipped with a rapid dump system that will allow us to rapidly shuttle water for our automatic aid departments. We are requesting it be equipped in order for it to enter service once licensed and fueled. We are requesting additional allocation for training in the use of the new vehicle. We have mandated all apparatus operators take an annual EVOC class. We are requesting $249,000 to achieve this goal of obtaining this truck and training.

The Celina Board of Mayor and Alderman allow us to provide fire protection to the area outside our city limits as long as we do not leave the city unprotected. Since the county cannot provide fire protection, the city does this out of the goodness of their heart. We use our second engine per the board’s rule. The Celina Fire Department is currently responding to all calls outside the city limits with a 1976 Mack R Model two-door pumper. The manufacturer of the pumper is out of business. The pumper has a steel 750- gallon tank with a 1000 gpm pump. The truck was purchased used by the department in 1997. The tank is rusted and the engine is extremely underpowered for our terrain. The transmission is a manual five speed and the brakes are inadequate for the terrain, since it does not have an auxiliary braking system. We have our firefighters respond to the station to man the apparatus and get their PPE. On rural calls this creates a problem since the pumper can only carry two firefighters. The others have to group up in personal vehicles with their PPE and travel to the fire scene. This creates a safety issue and clutters access to the fire scene. The cost to upgrade and modify this pumper is prohibitive. This pumper is best used as a reserve.

The apparatus currently in use was built for a town in south Louisiana that does not have the terrain we have in this area. We have six to eight percent grades we have to go up or down on every call. This is delaying our response time three to six minutes on every call. We are restricted in the fact that we can currently only take this pumper on the out of town calls. With our automatic aid responsibilities and calls within our district, this is approaching 100 calls a year. This is making our average response time over 15 minutes. We do not have a tanker in our department. The last department tanker was scrapped four years ago due to safety and mechanical problems. The city and county have been unable to appropriate the funds to replace the tanker. Our nearest tanker is 12 miles away.

We provide the primary support, through automatic aid, for four other departments. I cannot stress the importance of our assistance to these departments. With the exception of the Moss VFD, we provide on most occasions the initial fire attack and manpower for the calls in the East 52, Pea Ridge and Baptist Ridge fire districts. That means we are traveling eight to twelve miles to fight fire. We are working with inadequate outdated non- compliant equipment when we arrive on the scene. This is due to age of equipment, manpower concerns and the terrain. It’s almost a losing battle before it starts.

The grant would enable us to provide a faster more adequate fire attack to the calls in our area. It will provide double the current on scene water and the foam will improve our suppression capability. There is currently no foam capability within the department or the four departments in which we provide automatic aid. The foam will enable us to achieve a quicker knockdown. It will improve firefighter safety through less risk and exposure. We will create less damage to the property and could potentially minimize resources needed on the scene. This will give us a stable reliable platform for providing firefighting and will definitely give a safe means of transportation for the firefighters to the scene. Homemade tankers have caused several injuries and deaths in our state. We do not want to go the homemade route again. Due to the distances traveled, we can either provide water through the quick dump system or take over the firefighting operating on the aid situations.

We currently provide the protection for the US Army Corp of Engineers Dale Hollow Dam and Power Plant. This is located outside of our city and we are unable to provide adequate initial fire attack with our current equipment. The new equipment will solve that problem. It will give us time on other calls that will enable the responding aid to arrive with additional water. Currently we are waiting several minutes until aid arrives. This requires a change in attack for offensive to defensive due to time delay. It is creating a problem on the fire scene and causing extra effort being allocated to accountability. We do a good job with limited resources. This will enable us to do a great job and do it safely. The majority of our firefighter injuries over the past five years have been due to us having to change tactics in midstream and unreliable, inadequate equipment. Three separate occasions in 2004 we had pumpers stop operating while firefighters were inside the structure. The inability to provide a stable platform for firefighting in our rural areas has created a safety concern. It has caught the attention of the work comp administrator.

Why do we need the grant? We have approached the county government three separate times to increase the funding for the department. Refused due to their shrinking tax base. They refer us to the city government since we are a city department. The city has the following issues, which prevents the funding of this request.

We are located in the Appalachian region of Tennessee. The Appalachian Regional Commission has designated the county as a distressed county. We have lost 1200 manufacturing jobs since 1997. The unemployment rate has remained in the double digits since 1997. While several areas in Tennessee have grown in population we have remained flat with a slight loss. Retail sales have decreased which has cut our sales tax revenue. The median household income is one half of the state average. Twenty percent of the population is below the poverty line and approximately twenty percent of the population is disabled. Basically, No Jobs! No Money!

These demographics have squeezed the ability of the city fathers to fund every request. We were considering the Community Development Block Grant Program through USDA, however the city has applied for the next three years for water line rehab. They are experiencing sixty percent water loss of all treated water. This is extremely high for a small water district. This is a priority for their (CDBG) program and we are unable to apply. The loss of the manufacturing jobs in the community has been devastating to our tax base. The average drive to and from work is now ninety minutes and many of the homeowners have relocated out of the community to be near work. It has decreased our market appraisals on property thus decreasing the tax base.

Through our $15,000 annual budget from the city and $2500 from the county, we are unable to purchase and pay for the equipment needed to do the job requested. We have the adequate PPE and SCBA needed to safely protect our firefighters. This was courtesy of the AFG 2002 grant period. Now we need the system to deliver the goods.

We are in a position to help you accomplish the goals of the grant program. By awarding this grant, we will be able to accomplish the goal of making a significant life changing impact to a community that could never do it alone. This one award will impact two thirds of the population of Clay County. It will dramatically improve the firefighting capability of four fire departments. It will improve firefighter safety and the overall efficiency of the department. It will improve protection to our critical infrastructure and minimize potential life and property loss. Our goal is to eliminate firefighter and civilian injuries and death. This will put us on that path.

The cost benefit is tremendous. This will improve efficiency by minimizing equipment needed on the scene. It will provide a greater fire knockdown. It will transport adequate manpower and equipment to the scene. Eliminating the need of a tactical change in operations simply because of inadequate water or manpower. Since we respond from the station, we will have fewer volunteers on the roadway exposing themselves and citizens to the hazards of emergency response.

We want to help you achieve your goal of reducing the injury and death rate from fire in this country. Tennessee is ranked among the highest in civilian death and injuries due to fire. We are working real hard to make an impact on that figure in our area. We are doing the things we can on a local level, i.e. fire prevention, safety fairs, community lectures, but as stated we need your help on a larger level, capital improvements. We will deliver the goods. Thank you for volunteering your time to this important program. Thanks for the consideration of this application.