The Community Volunteer Fire Department is a combination
department located on the southwest border of the City of
Project Details
One of the hardest things to provide to firefighters is consistent, controlled live fire training. The majority of facilities in the country are fixed structures and departments often have to travel many miles to utilize them, leaving either minimal or no staffing in their first due areas, and relying more heavily on mutual aid from farther than normal distances to maintain safety at incidents. This also prevents these departments from holding live fire training with mutual aid departments in order to increase their familiarity and interoperability. Studies have shown that in areas where there is a lack of quality training opportunities, there is a greater risk for both firefighter and civilian injuries and fatalities.
We have very few opportunities to perform high quality, realistic training, as do all but a handful of departments within 100 miles that are fortunate enough to be near a live fire training facility. During the most recent drill we conducted at the closest facility to us, we found that severe complacency among the firefighters had set in: all had the layout of the structure memorized and were able to search and suppress fires faster than would be normal in an unfamiliar structure. This is far from realistic as it is very rare that fires occur in the same structure in a short enough span of time for the same people to be responding, and to remember having been there previously. It is for this reason that we are proposing to purchase trailer mounted live fire training simulator, as well as increasing the safety and interoperability of our SCBA by upgrading them to current NFPA standards, purchasing two Thermal Imaging Cameras, and purchasing individually fitted masks with voice amplifiers for all of our personnel.
Project Details
Part 1 – Training
As stated earlier, very few opportunities exist for live fire training in the area. Strict environmental and logistical controls prevent the usage of existing structures that may be scheduled for demolition, as live fire training buildings. In addition, despite thorough inspections, the safety of the structure and therefore the firefighters is severely compromised due to the unknowns about the condition of the load bearing portions of that structure and how they may react under even minimal flame and heat exposure. Fixed fire facilities are not only few and far between, but they are also exactly that: fixed. Very little can be done to vary the layout of the structures, and usually after one trip, firefighters have the layouts memorized and can develop feelings of overconfidence and complacency when faced with real incidents. This makes a dangerous situation even more dangerous, as firefighters that are inexperienced or have had few opportunities to be exposed to live fire on a fireground, are the ones that are most likely to get injured or worse at incidents. This puts not only them in danger, but every firefighter at that incident as they may need rescue at any time. The training of volunteers is also subject to availability to travel to these facilities, which also reduces the amount of time that firefighters are able to engage in live fire exercises.
The trailer mounted live fire training simulator we are proposing to purchase will not only make live fire training highly available, but also it will fight complacency by being able to change the layouts in numerous ways. The simulator will have the ability to have its interior reconfigured in mid-drill, as well as the additional tasks of wall breach, ceiling, roof joist, and pitched roof ventilation props, and a Denver Drill prop to assist in specialized Rapid Intervention Team trainings. The doors will be able to be forced without damage, as well as the entire process being environmentally friendly, using safe, non-toxic smoke and clean burning propane as the fuel source. The simulator will be able to provide realistic Class A, B, and C fire training as well as simulate electrical fires. The simulator will also be able to safely reproduce flashovers and rollovers in a controlled manner, both of which are conditions that are difficult to recognize when on an incident, and when not recognized have resulted in many line of duty injuries and fatalities. We feel that preventing both of these is worth any amount of money.
We already have over two dozen certified instructors in the department that will be able to provide the hands-on certified training that the state requires. This unit will also allow us to regularly train and maintain proficiency in not only fire attack and suppression, but search and rescue, ventilation, Thermal Imaging training, self-rescue, and Rapid Intervention Team operations per NFPA 1001. This simulator will be available to 100% of the volunteer and paid members, as well as being open to our immediate mutual aid departments so that we may increase our familiarity and interoperability with them.
As stated earlier, to the best of our knowledge there is no mobile live fire training facility in the area. If this grant is successful, we will have the potential to deliver high quality, realistic live fire training to over 1,000 firefighters in 5 counties. The department will attempt to make the unit as available as possible to requests for its use in order to benefit as many departments in our area we can.
In addition to members of the fire service, the simulator can be used for public fire education displays as most of the public is unaware of what happens during fires in terms of smoke and fire behavior. The smoke is non-toxic, and can be used independent of the live fire props to assist training children and others how to survive the early stages of a fire by proper evacuation techniques. The unit also has a prop than can be used to teach proper handling of fire extinguishers.
Part 2 – Personal Protective Equipment
We propose to upgrade 36 of our current SCBA units to NFPA 1981-2002 edition standards, including Heads Up Display for bottle pressure, RIT connections, and buddy breathing connections. These packs are not old enough nor in bad enough of a condition to warrant replacing so it was felt that upgrading them to the current standards would be more cost effective for all parties involved. This will bring 100% of our SCBA into compliance. Currently, if we were to have a downed firefighter situation, we would have to either change them to a new SCBA by removing their regulator and attaching the new one, which unnecessarily risks their life by leaving them open to the IDLH atmosphere, or we would have to leave their face piece in place and remove them before connecting them to a new SCBA. If their SCBA were out of air, this would cause them to be without air for a considerable length of time, practically ensuring either permanent injury or death due to lack of oxygen. The RIT connections and buddy breathing will allow us to quickly and easily give them a new air supply, which will significantly increase their chances of survival without permanent injury.
We are also proposing to purchase 76 additional face pieces and voice amplifiers, which when coupled with the number of existing masks, will allow us to issue individually fitted masks to all personnel. Currently all face pieces are on apparatus and must be shared. They are not sized properly for all personnel nor do they allow for eyewear to be taken into consideration. Even though we have SOPs covering the cleaning and sanitizing of face pieces, there are still many health risks associated with sharing masks. Purchasing personally fitted face pieces would also bring us into compliance with both NFPA and OSHA regulations for SCBA and breathing protection when entering IDLH atmospheres. The amplifiers will increase the ability for interior crews to communicate with each other when in close proximity. Currently only a few of our face pieces are fitted with amplifiers and the difference in the ability to communicate both in person and over a radio is very noticeable. The lack of clear voice communications creates a dangerous situation as any order could be misunderstood and someone could either do or not do something that could cause injuries to themselves or others.
Part 3 – Firefighting Equipment
We propose to purchase two additional thermal imaging
cameras (TICs) to aid in fire suppression, search and
rescue operations, Rapid Intervention Team operations as well as monitor
training exercises for safety. We cover many high density population structures
with residents in USFA’s high fire fatality risk age
groups: those under the age of 14, and over the age of 65. Nursing homes,
school, and some apartment complexes in our district would create major life
safety hazards if an incident were to occur in those facilities due to their
large size, and highly compartmented configurations. Search and rescue
operations would be a massive undertaking requiring a lot of manpower. These
cameras would allow us to search at a more rapid pace for potential victims, as
well as assist the attacks teams in finding and suppressing the seat of the
fire faster. Both activities when performed simultaneously would without a
doubt save the most victims. Without TICs, these are
very tedious tasks, which allow the victims to be trapped in an IDLH atmosphere
for an extended period, decreasing their likelihood of survival, as well as
allowing continued fire growth, putting those same victims and also the
firefighters at greater risk. These cameras would also allow us to equip a Rapid
Intervention Team with a camera. As recent as a few days prior to the deadline
for this application, two firefighters in
Why this project cannot be funded locally.
Currently 66% of our operating budget consists of
salaries, benefits, and insurance on our personnel. The steady increase in our
call volume averaging over 10% per year for the past few years has also caused
a major increase in fuel, insurance, maintenance and other related vehicle
costs, as well as an increase in the cost of EMS Supplies. We also place bunker
gear as our highest priority item to be purchased. An aggressive recruiting
campaign in 2003 caused a net growth of over 20 new members last year,
requiring a large investment in PPE so that these firefighters would be
properly outfitted in the latest fully NFPA compliant gear as well as the cost
of training these individuals. In addition, two major station projects were
undertaken in recent years. Due to the rapid expansion of the western part of
our district we had to build a new station to service those citizens, and most
recently we have had to acquire land and set aside funding to relocate one
station due to a
We would like to thank everyone at FEMA, DHS, USFA, and especially the peer reviewers for volunteering their time to assist in the review of grant applications. Regardless of the outcome of our application, we thank all of you on behalf of the American Fire Service. Great things have been accomplished by this program and we hope that our project is deemed worthy of funding. Thank you again for your time and consideration.