Lincoln County FPD #7
Wilbur, WA
Terry Engelson
Scope of Project:
Training provided by this project will allow the District to deliver direct training for all of its volunteer firefighters. Basic fire fighting essentials, FFI, FFII and safety training will be delivered face to face, and/or allow a member who missed the session to receive the training in a timely manner interactively at a computer terminal at the station. The new recruit would receive interactive training in a timely manner. The system would allow training at any one of our three stations. This system could also be used by any of the neighboring departments needing this training. This system will allow the District to achieve the goal of having 100% of its firefighter properly trained to the NFPA 1001, 1002, 1500, and Washington State’s RCW 43.43.934.1(f) and WAC 296-305 standards.
The purchase of two cascade systems for the two stations without the capability to refill SCBA bottles. This will allow the refilling of our SCBA’s with certified breathing air as per WAC 296-62-07182(2) and have this resource available in a timely manner.
Planned use for Funds:
Training:
The amount of $13,000 would provide the district with a program that provides the specific training required in the NFPA 1001,NFPA 1002 and NFPA 1500 standards and Washington States R.C.W. 43.43.934.1 and W.A.C. 296-305 standards. A complete set of videos, interactive computer software programs on 40 CD’s, a complete set of question files, a Quiz generator and course works software 4.0. The tracking program will allow for scheduling of needed classes and advise firefighters of when refresher classes are needed. The amount of $5,550 would provide a laptop computer and a portable LCD projector for the BI-weekly station training sessions and the purchase of two desktop computers for the two stations without computers. The total for training is $18,550
P.P.E.
33 Bunker coats and pants: $36,300, Helmets: $ 4,224, Boots: $3,366, Gloves: $1,254
54 Hoods: $1,026, and 28 SCBA’s $ 77,000.
The Wildland gear request is as follows: None of our 76 members have Nomex wildland gear.
The $14,440 will be used to purchase 76 Nomex Wildland Coat and pant sets.
Fire Equipment:
Two of our stations do not have a cascade system for filling SCBA bottles. The amount of $7,900 will be used to purchase and install certified breathing air filling systems.
Benefits:
Safety for our firefighters is of the utmost priority. Basic Training is needed to protect our firefighters. This training will allow our firefighters to approach all incidents with the knowledge of safety and operational requirements, It will provide our citizens with a quick controlled response that will lessen their loss. Our firefighters need to know how to protect themselves, the citizens and their property during an incident.
Our volunteer firefighters need this basic protection equipment for protection against injury while fighting fires, and mitigating hazardous material incidents. The proper equipment would allow our firefighters to attack wildland or structure fires quickly while providing for their personal safety. Studies show that majority of firefighter deaths occur during the suppression mode. These studies show that we must provide adequate safety equipment for our firefighters. In our rural setting we respond to wheat field fires, grass/sage brush pasture fires, timber fires, structure fires, hazardous materials incident, or any combination creating the need to protect our firefighters. Providing equipment for 100% of our personnel is the goal of the Fire District and of this grant request.
The ability to attack these fires quickly and safely is essential for the protection of life and property. With a faster knock down and/or the ability to remain in the protection mode longer, damage to property would decrease. Being able to provide our firefighters with proper protection and controlling all fires, safely and quickly, is a priority of the Fire District.
The lack of breathing air creates a problem for extended interior attacks, hazardous incidents and live training for us. They do not exist. Our SCBA’s which are of the early 1980 and earlier vintages utilize steel bottles and one size fits all face pieces. We currently carry only two packs on each engine. The first in engine must wait for the second before an attack can begin. One of the goals of this request is to have four packs on the first in engines. The other engines will carry three packs. All of the new packs will have integrated pass devices and dual warning devices. Two of our stations do not have a cascade system for refilling their bottles. This requires at least a 25 minute one way drive to have bottles refilled. The safety of personnel is at risk with our limited air supply. The addition of cascade systems at these stations will enhance the safety and training of our firefighters and help thereby reducing the risk of loss of life.
The proper training and needed personal protection equipment will allow the district to initiate and maintain a RIT at incidents requiring the team.
Funding:
Lincoln County Fire Protection District # 7 is an all volunteer department. The Fire District is solely supported by a property tax that is limited by State law. A Washington State initiative I-747 has now limited the yearly increase of property tax to 1% not 6%. This means a direct 5% loss in income for the District. Since the majority of our acreage protected is agricultural, the unstable agriculture economy will affect our budget since values of agricultural property are based on a production value.
The valuation of the district is $ 103,705,341 with an assessment for 2002 being $103,635. The Lincoln Station built in 2000 has a debt repayment of $21,074 for the next three years.
The 532 square mile District will operate on $82561 this year. This year’s budget items, Communications, fuel, insurance, utilities, vehicle maintenance, building maintenance, on call wages, and administrative costs will use 55% of this amount. This leaves 45% for vehicle repairs, equipment replacement or repairs, personnel protection equipment, and training.
The capital outlay to bring 100% of our firefighters into current training, structure and wildland turnouts would be a burden which the District could not fund in a timely manner. The property has been donated for a fourth station with proposed construction beginning in 2006. The continuing efforts to update our aging fleet are also additional expenses on the horizon.
Additional Information:
Welcome to Lincoln County Fire Protection District # 7, we are located in eastern Washington State, The Districts service area of 532 square miles borders the Columbia River on its northern boundaries. Moving south through the canyons of ponderosa pine, sage brush, and grasses, upon cresting the plateau we move into the wheat fields of the area. As the District nears its southern boundaries, it becomes a maze of channeled scab lands with grasses, sagebrush, ponds, and scattered oasis of trees. The climate for the area varies from below freezing during the winter months to over 100 during the summer months. The semi arid climate means snow, black ice, hail, thunderstorms, and rain. Hot and dry days are to be expected.
We have two towns located within District boundaries, six areas of recreational housing, numerous farmsteads, a Washington State Fish and Wildlife area of over 3,200 acres, numerous acres of Washington State Dept. of Natural Resource’s land and over 2000 acres of land owned by Federal Bureau of Land Management. The Federal Government has listed two towns within our district and our entire northern border with Lake Roosevelt in the National Fire Plans areas at risk of wildfire.
The District maintains an automatic aid agreement with the Town of Wilbur and mutual aid agreements with the towns of Almira, Davenport, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Electric City, Odessa, Harrington, Reardan, Edwall, and Sprague. It also maintains mutual aid agreements with seven of the fire districts in the county. Through other agreements we also work with Washington State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Dept. Natural Resource’s, Federal Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service.
The District currently has three stations, one in the Town of Wilbur, one in the Town of Creston, and one located in the Lincoln recreational area. We have 76 volunteers manning these stations. Our fleet consists of 18 apparatus. Six of these units are Federal Excess Personal Property vehicles acquired through the Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources.
Response times of 35 minutes or more to some areas of the district, fires usually have a good head start. In the past 10 years we have seen 4 major wildland fires which consumed over 20,000 acres each. One fire in 1998 involved nine farmsteads, and over 25,000 acres with seven buildings lost. That day the response time was 30 minutes to the fire, with winds gusting to 40 mph and a relative humidy of 18%. These types of fires, require our firefighters to have adequate personal protection equipment and training
During the height of the 2000 fertilizer season, a delivery truck pulled away from an anhydrous ammonia storage tank, tearing loose the 2 in fill line from the tank causing a massive leak. SCBA’s where required to approach the scene. Our limited supply of SCBA’s and the ability to refill our bottles allowed the majority of the 10,000-gallon tank to be emptied into the atmosphere. The site is west of The Town of Wilbur and with our prevailing winds from the southwest, portions of the town and a nearby golf course were in jeopardy.
The expansion of recreational property along the Columbia River is creating a demand for expansion of services for the Fire District. The District was formed to protect the area farmer’s properties and
now we are moving into the urban interface in the recreational areas. The population of the district is estimated at 2134. This figure is greatly affected by the influx of recreational visitors.
The information from the NPS’s Lake Roosevelt National Recreational Area DGMP/EIS shows a visitor count of over 206,000 visitors during the recent recorded count.
This area borders our class nine (9) fuel sources and represents the majority of our interface fire exposures. These areas are (with the exception of the Lincoln Mill area) are our longest response times due to lack of roads or the steep narrow canyon roads. The recreational area has the largest loss potential of fixed property values per acre in the district. The long response times allow for fire development and extension creating the need for the personal protection equipment and training for which we are requesting funding.