Community Volunteer Fire Department
2003 FEMA FIRE Act Application
Application Narrative
Brian P. Vickers
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at FEMA for the
opportunity to apply for a grant under the FIRE Act Program. This assistance to
fire departments across the country will be felt for years to come. We would
also like to extend our thanks to those that have volunteered to review
applications. Your hard work is greatly appreciated by all.
Department Characteristics
Community Volunteer Fire Department is located on the southwest side of
The Project
We are applying for a grant to purchase a quint
aerial apparatus. It will be a 100’ rear mount ladder with a 1500gpm pump and
400 gallon water tank, among other features that will be detailed later in the
narrative. We have performed significant pre-planning and we have found that a
75’ aerial device will not reach the overwhelming majority of the areas that we
need an aerial, due to the setbacks of these buildings from the streets and
potential staging areas. We have specified that the aerial should be capable of
handling 1,500lbs when not flowing any water through
the master stream and 1,250lbs when flowing at the full capacity of 1,500gpm
through the master stream. We believe that the chance of having to rescue
several victims at once using the aerial exists and this high capacity will
allow us to extricate more victims simultaneously. This capacity will also
allow us to use the aerial as an anchor point for technical rescue operations
such as confined space, trench, and high-angle rescues.
Usage of Funds
All of the funds requested, added to our matching funds, will be used to
purchase the apparatus. We do have the matching funds and a small amount of
additional funds to purchase the additional equipment needed to equip this
unit, including power saws, hose, and the like.
Project Benefits
This project will benefit our community and several mutual aid departments in
many ways. The greatest benefit is that it will allow us to have the first
aerial unit on location within a few minutes and if necessary, have a second
one come from a mutual aid department, rather than having to wait on two from
mutual aid departments. As mentioned earlier in the application, our two
closest aerials are with Houston Fire Department and are at least 17 and 20
minutes away, if they are not committed to an incident already. It will also
allow us to assist our mutual aid departments in the same way, reducing their
reliance on HFD to provide two aerials at their incidents.
According to the Insurance Service Organization (ISO) recommendations Section
540, “response areas with 5 buildings that are 3 stories or 35 feet or more in
height, or [have] 5 buildings that have a Needed Fire Flow greater than
3,500gpm, or any combination of these criteria, should have a ladder company.”
In our district we currently have one 4-story office building, over 92 3-story
apartment buildings, numerous strip malls, over fifteen super stores (such as
Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.), and over fifteen elementary, junior high, and high
schools. Among them is Alief ISD’s
In addition to the ISO recommendations, NFPA Standards in the NFPA Fire
Protection Handbook (18th Edition) Table 10-2A recommends the following
response patterns:
- High-hazard occupancies (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, high-rise
buildings): at least four pumpers, two ladder trucks, and other specialized
apparatus as may be identified or available for the hazard.
- Medium-hazard occupancies (apartments, offices, mercantile and industrial not
normally requiring extensive rescue or firefighting capabilities): at least 3
pumpers, one ladder truck, and other specialized apparatus as may be identified
or available.
- Low-hazard occupancies (one-, two-, or three-family dwellings, and scattered
businesses and industrial occupancies): at least two pumpers, one ladder truck,
and other specialized apparatus as may be identified or available.
We cannot currently meet these standards on our own, nor can we dependably and
consistently meet them using mutual aid departments. The extended response
times of our mutual aid departments unnecessarily risks the lives and property
of both those we serve and our firefighters.
Funding Issues
Until the recent establishment of the Emergency Services District, the bulk of
the department’s funding was in the form of ambulance billing, and donations attached
to water bills. The ESD is now able to enact and collect an Emergency Services
tax. Unfortunately, because of call volume increases, the positive effect of
this increase in funding has all but disappeared due to the need to hire
additional paid crews, benefits and insurance costs, fuel, and the related
vehicle wear and tear costs.
Additionally, we have had to build a new station to cover the western part of
the district and now due to the aforementioned Westpark
Tollway, we must relocate another station. Our
current Station 1 is located on
Additional Information
These are the minimum specs of the Quint as we have
researched to be necessary for our situation:
-100’ rear mount aerial ladder
-1,500lb capacity (dry)
-1,250lb capacity while flowing 1,500gpm through master stream
-rescue type attachments (pulleys, anchor points, etc, for Technical Rescue
incidents)
- tandem axle chassis
- 500HP engine with matched Allison transmission
- minimum 1500gpm pump
- minimum 400 gallon water tank
- Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS) with 25 gallon Class A Foam tank
- 10kW PTO generator
- 2–200’ 1-3/4” preconnected handlines
- 1000’ of 5” large diameter supply line
- storage for 2 – 35’ extension ladders, 2 - 28’ extension ladders, 1 – 16’
roof ladder, 1 – 10’ attic ladder
We understand that some of these specs (mainly the tandem axle chassis,100’
aerial ladder and CAFS system) make the cost of the vehicle higher. But as
stated earlier, pre-planning has shown that a 75’ aerial device will not be
useful in the vast majority of our response district. We have also placed high
weight capacities on the aerial ladder because this will mean a more than
stable unit for operations, which in turn increases the safety factor for both
citizens rescued, and for firefighters. The CAFS Foam system will also increase
the safety factor for citizens and firefighters due to the more efficient
suppression capabilities of the foam, which we feel is worth any amount of
money. It would be completely irresponsible to specify anything less than what
we have for this unit, because anything less will not fulfill our needs. The
relatively minor difference in cost between this and a unit with a shorter
aerial and no CAFS system would mean a nearly complete loss of the
functionality of that unit and a waste of both FEMA’s
money and ours. We have designed this unit to last this department for over 20
years due to the potential growth that our district will see by being on the
border of the fourth largest city in the
We have addressed the training needs that would be associated with purchasing a
Quint since this department has never owned an
apparatus with an aerial device. We have several members with many years of
experience operating aerials with other departments, as well as several members
of our paid day crew who currently ride and operate ladder trucks for the City
of
Currently, we have 14 paid day crew personnel scheduled on 2 engines, 2
ambulances and either a brush truck, rescue truck, or third ambulance,
depending on the needs at the time. Volunteers respond during the day when
necessary also, but mainly they are scheduled on nights and weekends on 3
engines, 2-3 ambulances, and are paged for special calls (such as brush or
rescue) as needed. During all shifts, since there would be a minimum of two
engines available to respond with a scheduled crew from other stations, our
plan is to use the Quint as the first out apparatus
from its station on all structural fires or alarm systems. The scheduled engine
crew from that station would move from the engine to the quint
to respond as the first out piece and additional personnel would take the
engine as the second out piece from that station. Additional responding
personnel would then take the reserve engines out of their respective stations,
giving our initial response a total of 4 engines and 1 ladder. On shifts that
the driver of the scheduled engine is not cleared to drive the quint, an additional driver would be scheduled to guarantee
that the unit would be able to respond as the first out piece of apparatus.
This planned response matrix will allow us to meet the NFPA recommendation for
Low- and Medium-Risk occupancies, and maximize the likelihood of meeting the
High-Risk occupancy recommendation by guaranteeing one ladder truck and only
requesting one for mutual aid, instead of hoping that two mutual aid trucks are
available.
Again, we thank you for volunteering your time to review applications for FEMA.
We feel blessed just to have been given the opportunity to apply for a grant
under this program, and regardless of the outcome of this application, we know
the safety of
This is the
other part that the narrative references about response times of HFD’s aerials.
|
3. If you answered Yes to Question 2 above, please specify
how? (You can only enter 4000 characters) |
|
We are
applying for a grant to purchase a quint aerial apparatus.It will be a 100’ rear mount ladder with a
2000gpm pump and 400 gallon water tank, among other features that we will be
detailing in the narrative. |