WINNING NARRATIVE 2008



Project Description
* Please indicate which of these Target Capabilities your request outlined in this application will satisfy. Check all that
apply:
* Please provide your narrative statement in the space provided below. Include in your narrative, details regarding (1)
your project’s description and budget, (2) your organization’s financial need, (3) the benefit to be derived from the cost
of your project, and (4) how the activities requested in your application will help your organization’s daily operations and
how this grant will protect life and property.


2008 Regional Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program
Interoperable Radio Project

The XXXX Fire Department is located XX miles northwest of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. XXX County is
predominately a rural county located in XXX Minnesota. Our Fire Departments collectively provide service for:
10 miles of XXX, 7 state highways, 2 major railways, 2 pipelines, 7 communities, 4 medical centers, 3 nursing homes
and 3 school districts. All of the above listed are within the 576 square miles of XXX County.

XXX County’s fire and EMS protection comes from 6 fire departments and 2 ambulance services responding in 7
communities. We are extremely proud of the 155 firefighters who provide quality fire protection and endless hours of
volunteer time serving our communities with a total population of 6,067.


Project Description and Budget
--------------------------------
After a risk assessment by all partners we are requesting $404,706.00 for a regional interoperable radio project in the
Operations and Safety Program area for the communications equipment. The XXXX Fire Department is the heart
of XXX County and is serving as the host department for the six fire departments located in our county.

The objective of this proposal is to build upon the investment in the 800 MHz regional radio system (trunked radio
system) developed by the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Statewide Radio Board and XXX County to insure
communications interoperability among local, regional, state and federal first responders.

The Statewide Radio Board through its ARMER Project (Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response) has XXX
County in Phase 456. The Sheriff’s Department of XXX County, which provides emergency 911 dispatching for the
entire county’s EMS system, has just had a Radio Study completed for our county. This study consistently reported the
need for upgraded communications equipment and expanded coverage. The Minnesota state ARMER, 800 MHz
system was recommended to address our inadequate communications coverage and equipment. At this time XXX
County’s Fire & EMS all utilize a VHF wide-band analog system. Due to the FCC 2013 P25 Mandate operations on this
system will be ceased by 2013.

In a meeting with the Fire Chiefs, Emergency Management, County Sheriff, City Mayors and County Commissioners, a
decision was made collectively to submit a regional application so that our desires and objectives of Homeland
Presidential Directives 5 and 8 for interoperable communications between agencies could be achieved.

By joining the State’s trunked radio system, not only would firefighters be able to talk to each other on the fire scene
with a clear digital signal (compared to analog which is susceptible to weak and scratchy signals), Dispatch would be
able to monitor fire stations and firefighters who are normally out of range. This will be a huge benefit during mutual aid
incidents and in rural areas when there are longer distances to shuttle water to the scene and increased firefighter
safety.

The system will also allow talk groups to be set up for each department. This prevents departments that may be
training from interfering with their neighboring departments who may be responding to a call. This can be a valuable tool
for the dispatcher, especially during a multi-agency emergency and possible everyday all hazards events.

We feel it is imperative that the cities of XXX County expedite replacing their VHF wideband radio systems with a
fully-compatible trunked radio system in order to maintain critical levels of interoperability. In the past XXX County has
experienced many events requiring multi-agency responses. The funds we are requesting are essential to continuing an
effective level of communication between our firefighters, law enforcement, emergency medical agencies and the
Sheriff’s Dispatch Center to keep all responders safe during daily operations.

Regional Partners:
1. XXX/EMS - 27 Firefighters
2. XXX - 21 Firefighters
3. XXXX - 27 Firefighters
4. XXX - 24 Firefighters
5. XXX/EMS - 33 Firefighters
6. XXX - 23 Firefighters

To ensure full interoperability, based on a county wide assessment, the Departments will require:
6 base radios
34 single head mobile radios
10 dual mobile radios
64 handheld portables
155 Motorola Minitor V Pager
12 Accessories Headset, Dual Ear Muff, Behind Head, with PTT

Training - $56.00 per firefighter

The cost to purchase these radios is $417,326.00 also needed is the $8,680.00 for training on the equipment. We are
requesting $404,706.00 in AFG funds with our 5% match of $21,300.00 which will provide us what is listed above. This
will meet 100% of our requirement for all XXX County Fire Departments. The following is the proposed budget for this


Regional Interoperability Radio XXX:
- 6 base radios x $4318.00 = $25908.00
- 34 single mobile radios x $3791.00 = $128894.00
- 10 dual head mobile radios x $4340.00 = $43400.00
- 64 handheld radios x $2145.00 = $137280.00
- 155 pagers x $500.00 = $77500.00
- 12 Accessories x $362.00 = $4344.00 (Accessories Headset, Dual Ear Muff, Behind Head, with PTT)
- Training–155 personnel x $56.00 hr.= $8,680.00
- Total cost = $426006.00

Total Radio Costs: $417,326.00
Total Training Cost: $8,680.00
Total Project Cost: $426,006.00
5% Match: $21,300.00
Federal share: $404,706.00


Financial Need
------------------
The Regional Volunteer Fire Departments receive a small annual budget from their Cities to work with. This revenue is
allocated for use in paying our departments operating expenses such as fuel, utilities and maintenance. It does not
include money for equipment expenditures.

We seek other sources of revenue through various annual fund raising events. These events are all reliant on the
generosity of local residents.

In the past local community and civic organizations have committed themselves to our fire departments fund raising
projects with monetary contributions to ensure the safety of the area of which they have members. Working together
we can have a successful project.

As you can see by the large scale of this project, (both equipment and dollars) this is an overwhelming financial burden
for each of the six departments. The fire departments would rather utilize their operating budgets to ensure safe
firefighting operations while leveraging opportunities to partner with others to address a large communication issue that
is not localized to XXX County.

Each local jurisdiction is, however, committed to the ongoing support, monthly/yearly radio fees, and on-going
maintenance costs of the new 800 MHz radio system once it is in place, but simply can not afford to make the initial
investment at this time, or by the 2013 FCC deadline.

Even with a successful XXX application, our ability to purchase all the necessary equipment to ensure full
implementation of this project will extend beyond the next year. Therefore we are bearing all administrative and indirect
costs to ensure all available AFG funding will be applied directly to the purchase of radio equipment.

The regional partners have made several attempts to solve this problem and the raising of funds for this project but
have been unsucessfull.

The declining farm economy is hurting the local service organizations that have helped us in the past, so there are no
funds available from outside sources. Without this XXX, these purchases will not be made, and the safety of our
firefighters and the public will be in jeopardy.


Cost/Benefit
-----------------
The overall communications problem is old technology, old non-compliant equipment and we have is lack of radio
frequencies.

The Fire Departments in XXX County believe purchasing communication equipment that will address interoperability
issues is a highly beneficial use of federal funds.

The true benefit of this project will be realized on a regional level.

Successful funding of this joint project will ensure greater purchasing power, uniformity in equipment and a smooth and
timely transition to the 800 MHz system.

Without funding from this XXX each City and Fire Department would be forced to implement the change to 800 MHz as
their funding would allow, as a result, the completion of this project would be indefinite.

Without full implementation of the system on a coordinated timeline we could not ensure communication interoperability
with local neighboring jurisdictions, regional, state, and federal agencies that are already using 800 MHz systems, thus
jeopardizing the effectiveness and safety of emergency responders and the public.

In the event of a disaster, these targets would require the response of multiple agencies. These potential targets
include:
-XXX County Courthouse
-XXX County Law Enforcement
-XXX County EOC
-XXX County Dispatch
-Canadian Pacific Railroad
-Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railroad
-Magellan Pipeline
-NuStar Energy LP
-Public and Private schools ranging from pre-school to secondary
-Interstate HWI
-Local Water Treatment Facilities
-Hospital providing Emergency Services
-Manufacturing facilities

By receiving this XXX and this equipment we can remove the cause of the conditions and problems which are
negatively affecting our ability to provide mission critical services.

A favorable response to this regional XXX request would ensure the cities in this regonal partnership could improve
communications with each other at mutual aid responses. Because of the importance of this issue for each department,
a combined XXX request was jointly decided upon.

The importance of agency interoperability and communication consistency cannot be separated. Without one, the other
is lost. The benefit for this area would be that the regonal partnership’s firefighters would be safer because the
dispatching agency would have clear & direct communication with all firefighters and responders.

The regonal partners Officers would have better communication with their firefighters because of the reduction of
outside noises and competition by the headsets.

Interior operations could be separated from exterior operations so there wouldn’t be any time lost in waiting for the
frequency to clear.

The Rapid Intervention Teams could also stay better informed by having uninterrupted communication with the
fireground officer.

These improvements would be greatest exemplified at multi jurisdiction calls (mutual aid) because rather than all of the
departments trying to talk on a few frequencies, entire talk groups could be created for the task they are assigned to
do.

Collectively the cities of XXX/EMS, XXX, XXXX, XXX, XXX/EMS and XXX will be able to
train together alongside XXX County to establish best practice operating guidelines for communications. Having
standardized and compatible communications equipment is critical to both our own department’s welfare and the mutual
aid infrastructure.

In general, this XXX would result in improved interoperability with neighboring communities, increase our level of OSHA
and NFPA compliance and bolster our on-scene effectiveness. On scene firefighter safety would be substantially
increased through better communications. Good communications are necessary to provide timely information and to
ensure firefighter and public safety.


Statement of effect:
--------------------------
Currently in XXX County we have issues regarding communications. The overall problem is old technology, old
non-compliant equipment and we have is lack of radio frequencies. All six fire departments share just one common
radio frequency to communicate on. This creates a lot of communication traffic congestion.

All of the six fire departments within XXX County can not communicate with our surrounding mutual aid counties. An
example being if a multi-agency incident happens in the XXX Fire Jurisdiction all of the responding mutual aid would
not be able to communicate, XXX or XXX fire departments would not be able to communicate with the
XXX Fire Department responding from XXX County.

The same is true if there were a multi-agency incident by XXX and XXX Fire responded, they would not
be able to communicate with XXX Fire from XXX County. The requested equipment will solve interoperability
issues and radio traffic congestion issues that, if not corrected will seriously compromise firefighter and public safety on
a local, county, and regional scale.

Training on the use and implementation of the new radio equipment will begin following notification of XXX approval
and prior to radio acquisition to assure a smooth transition. Training will be provided by the equipment vendor and
qualified members of our organizations that have been trained and involved in the development of 800 MHz systems for
other agencies. There will be additional training once equipment is acquired and placed in service.

All six XXX County Fire Departments operate under Mutual Aid Agreements. Joint fire training exercises with the new
communications equipment will occur in this environment to ensure full radio interoperability with our partners.

Demands on our fire departments, such as adding 800 MHz interoperable radio communications are increasingly
disproportionate to our tax revenues and the available resources we all posses in our small volunteer fire departments.

This award will have a very large positive impact on our day-to-day operations and the safety of our volunteer
firefighters with the enhanced interoperable radio communications with our mutual aid partners.

Budget figures provided are State contract pricing compiled by the Statewide Radio Board. The Statewide Radio
Board oversees the entire 800 MHz system for the 87 counties in the State of Minnesota. These prices are used by all
government entities in the State of Minnesota.

All of the radio equipment will bring the organizations into statutory compliance with MN State Law 182.653. They will
also comply with the State Radio Plan MN CHAPTER 403.911 EMERGENCY AND PUBLIC SAFETY
COMMUNICATIONS laws. They will also meet NFPA Standard 1221 for the installation, maintenance, and use of
emergency services communications systems and APCO 25/Project 25 compliant.

We appreciate your support and would like to express out gratitude for the opportunity this XXX program will provide
to the XXX County Fire Departments.


Thank you for your consideration.
XXXX Fire Department, Regional XXX Host Department
XXX Fire Department
XXX Fire Department
XXX Fire Department
XXX Fire Department
XXX Fire Department