The Project
The Custer Fire Department is applying for a grant in the amount of $197,975 to purchase a fully equipped, NFPA 1901 compliant engine. Both of our current engines require significant investments to refurbish them to be not only NFPA Compliant, but also just plain reliable. Since this cost would be more than our matching funding would be on this project, we feel that it would be more beneficial to our citizens to use the funding we do have as matching funds for this project. This would allow us to keep a first rate unit in service, while raising the funds to bring one of the existing units up to par as a reserve unit. The new unit would be equipped with a 1000 GPM pump, a 1000 gallon tank, Class A Foam System, and would be outfitted with the equipment we will be using for our RIT (Rapid Intervention Team).
Planned Funding Usage
The entire amount of the grant in addition to our matching funds will be used to purchase the aforementioned engine.
Project Benefits
In addition to the Custer area that we serve, the nine other fire departments in Breckinridge County with whom Custer has mutual aid agreements will benefit from this apparatus. The Custer Fire Department provides mutual aid to the Flaherty Area Fire Department in Meade County, as well as the Rineyville, West 84 and Kentucky 86 Fire Departments located in Hardin County. Our district is primarily rural, covering 115 square miles and protects approximately 4,400 citizens, but does include an elementary school, several large churches, gas stations and large farms; This unit will greatly enhance the safety of both the citizens we serve and our firefighters. One of our current units will not pass a pump test, is in need of a major mechanical overhaul which leaves it completely out of service most of the time. Our other engine is not in great shape either. It will pass a pump test, but on several occasions it has also been out of service with several mechanical problems, leaving our first-due response area without an engine. It also is an open cab design, which is not NFPA compliant, and definitely not safe for our firefighters to respond with. Because of the size of our response area, the next available mutual aid engine is over 25 minutes away. This situation risks both the lives of our citizens and our firefighters. The addition of this new engine to our fleet will remove this risk, in addition to greatly enhancing our firefighting capabilities. We have been performing extensive training on RIT Operations, and we plan to outfit this unit with the RIT Equipment that we currently own. Our area also includes many two - lane highways, which are used heavily by tractor-trailers, school buses, passenger cars and workers that travel to Hardin County (Elizabethtown & Ft. Knox). According to the Kentucky Department of Transportation there are an estimated 3,100 vehicles that pass through our area each day besides local traffic. We have responded to several auto accidents in the recent years, but as this traffic load increases, the risk of having a major vehicle incident also increases. We have a capable light duty rescue truck to respond with, but the public's sake we cannot take the risk of being without a reliable engine to respond to these incidents as our current situation stands now. Our call volume and the severity of those calls have been increasing tremendously over the past couple of years. We have gone from 127 calls in the year 2000, to 130 in 2001, to 170 in 2002. The population and demographics of our area are growing rapidly as evidenced by the increase in call volume, and we feel that this project will have the highest long term benefit out of any other that we could undertake.
Funding Issues
The Custer Fire Department serves a rural population in an economically depressed area. Most of Kentucky is limited financially and experiencing financial shortfalls. The population demographics in Breckinridge County make it impossible to generate revenue sufficient to fund large purchases such as an engine. We have been able to purchase suitable PPE, SCBA's, and other basic equipment, but maintenance on our existing engines has made it impossible to build up the needed funding to purchase a reliable, NFPA compliant engine, and purchase some other equipment such as thermal imaging camera.
Additional Information
Many rural areas in Kentucky are in dire need of updated equipment and vehicles. Especially now, when homeland security is an issue, emergency response departments must be prepared to serve and protect the people and property they are responsible for. In our area we are maximizing the limited regional resources through our mutual aid agreements, but because of the long response times of these departments, we feel that the safety of the citizens we serve and our firefighters is greatly compromised by our current situation. Our greatest need is for a reliable engine to enable us to serve our citizens and assist our mutual aid departments as best we possibly can. The Custer Fire Department may also benefit from the addition of a dependable engine along with our tanker; we could decrease our current ISO rating of 9 to an 8 or 7 thus improve our ISO rating for the citizens of our community. Our volunteers are dedicated and care about our community we just need some help with our engine project.
We thank you for volunteering your time to review these applications, and for the opportunity to apply for a grant through this program.