| * Please indicate which of these Target Capabilities your request outlined in this application will satisfy. Check all that apply: | |
| Responder Safety and Health Firefighting Operations/Support Hazardous Materials Response Search and Rescue Emergency Medical Services Communications |
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| * 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. | |
| XXXXXX fire protection comes from 8 fire
departments responding from 8 different jurisdictions. 171 firefighters
provide the quality fire protection and endless hours of volunteer time
our citizens have come to expect.
The XXX Fire Department, which has accepted the role as host applicant and fiscal agent, is a Paid-on-Call fire department responding from one centrally-located fire station with 29 firefighters. XXX, Minnesota is an approximate 200-mile drive southwest of the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area in a predominantly rural area. U.S. Highway XX and Minnesota State Highway XX are the main arterials through XXX County. Minnesota State Highways XXX and XX also lie within XXX County. Interstate XXX is located less than XXX miles from the County’s southern border. XXX County was the site of the only two F-5 (Fujita scale) tornadoes to occur in Minnesota since historical weather data collection began. XXX is home to the largest XXX in Minnesota. XXX, Minnesota is home to 2 large agriculture plants producing several chemicals, an electricity-generating power plant, numerous large hog plants and vast grasslands posing great wildfire threats. Project Description and Budget: A Minnesota Local and Regional Public Safety Interoperable Communications Assessment has been completed for XXX County. In response to this, the objective of this proposal is to upgrade our existing non-narrowband VHF radio system to become compliant with the FCC’s narrow-banding mandates. It is hoped that this will be accomplished by joining the 800 MHz trunked radio system already in place throughout the State of Minnesota. Our project would link XXX County with the adjacent mutual aid counties and with XXX County (whose fire departments’ response areas include a portion of our County) along with the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. The equipment we are proposing to purchase will allow interoperable communications among our local, regional, State and Federal emergency responders. The system currently in place throughout XXX County is primarily analog VHF. The paging channel is also being used as the primary fire communications channel, creating serious problems when more than one agency is out at one time. County Dispatchers often have difficulties paging out a second agency for mutual aid due to the channel being used for on-scene communications. The equipment being proposed will prevent these conflicts and will provide talkgroups/channels reserved for tactical and command interoperability among all agencies. VHF two-way voice radio services will continue to exist for fire (statewide fire mutual aid) and EMS interoperability until all agencies fully convert to the State’s trunked system. VHF paging services for EMS, fire and other first responders will remain a key component of the XXX County radio system as there are not paging capabilities under the 800 MHz system at this time. XXXXXX radio system is faced with the FCC’s December 2012 narrowband mandate, which has caused the need for a system-wide upgrade along with a parallel upgrade to the user components (radios and pagers). The fire service within the County does not own any narrowband compatible radios, so it is vital that this transition begins immediately. Migration toward the narrowband requirement and the state ARMER system will also require upgrades to the Dispatch Center’s equipment in order to effectively service the XXX County fire radio system. This diverse strategy is consistent with the system-of-systems model of the State of Minnesota SCIP plan, the state’s efforts at interoperability planning for VHF/UHF/800 MHz, and regional public safety communications interoperability planning. In efforts to achieve the necessary inter-agency interoperability, we are requesting $872,629 in Federal funds. The XXX County fire departments will contribute a 5% local match of $45,927 for a total project budget amounting to $918,556. Funds will be used for the following: -- connect XXX County with the 800 MHz ARMER trunked radio system being implemented throughout Minnesota -- provide narrowband VHF tone/voice alert pagers to the agencies in need -- provide training on the proper use and maintenance of the equipment for all firefighters within the County The XXX Fire Department is pleased to again participate in the Fire Act grant program. We are appreciative of the opportunity to act as the host agency on behalf of our XXX County partners consisting of 8 fire departments and 1 non-affiliated EMS organization: Regional Partners: Number of personnel XXXX Fire Department: 14 XXXX Fire Department: 17 XXXX Fire Department: 25 XXXX Fire Department: 22 XXXX Fire Department: 22 XXXX Fire Department: 16 XXXX Fire Department: 26 XXXX Fire Department: 29 XXX Community Ambulance: 22 After meeting with the County Fire Chiefs, Emergency Managers, Communications Director and the County Sheriff, the decision was made to take a regional approach to this project so that our desires and the objectives of Homeland Presidential Directives 5 and 8 for interoperable communications between agencies could be achieved. As stated earlier, our project is consistent with the State of Minnesota’s statewide trunked radio system and will allow us to utilize the digital 800 MHz trunked radio system. XXX County Commissioners have passed a formal resolution to become a full participant of the Statewide ARMER system; therefore, the local fire departments and EMS organizations are now faced with a decision to make. We feel it is imperative that the fire departments within XXX County expedite the replacement of their non-narrowband VHF equipment in order to maintain critical levels of interoperability. All the agencies represented in this project have experienced events requiring multi-agency responses and we feel the funds being requested are essential to continuing an effective level of communication between our firefighters, local police departments, emergency medical agencies and the dispatchers. It should be noted that the XXX County Commissioners and respective City Councils have expressed their support for our application. Below is an outline of our project’s budget: (153) 800 MHz/Trunked Portable Radios @ $3300....$ 504,900 (55) 800 MHz/Trunked Mobile Radios @ $4700.......$ 258,500 (9) 800 MHz/Trunked Base Radios @ $5800..........$ 52,200 (168) narrowband tone/voice alert pagers @ $552..$ 92,736 (36) spare portable radio batteries @ $145.......$ 5,220 Training (per Contracted Services..............$ 4,000 Total..........................................$ 917,556 Additional Notes: --There is a $1,000 grant writing fee associated with this request, for a final grand total of $918,556. --Each portable will include an individual charger and a speaker microphone --Base and mobile radios will include installation fees and applicable accessories (Antennas, wire, power supplies) With varying department operating characteristics, staffing levels and apparatus owned, the equipment is expected to be distributed as described below (however this is subject to change). In the event our request is not fully funded, the XXX County Fire Chiefs will reconvene to re-determine each fire department’s needs and re-distribute radio equipment accordingly in order to maintain proper interoperability. XXXX: 14 800 MHz Portable Radios 7 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 14 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: 14 800 MHz Portable Radios 5 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 17 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: 10 800 MHz Portable Radios 8 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 25 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: 15 800 MHz Portable Radios 6 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 19 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: 22 800 MHz Portable Radios 7 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 22 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: Ambulance (non-affiliated): 22 800 MHz Portable Radios 1 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 22 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: 12 800 MHz Portable Radios 5 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 0 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: 18 800 MHz Portable Radios 8 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 24 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries XXXX: 26 800 MHz Portable Radios 8 800 MHz Mobile Radios 1 800 MHz Base Radio 25 Alert Pagers 4 Spare Portable Batteries Please note that each portable radio will include an individual charger and a speaker microphone. The prices for each mobile and base radio includes the cost for installation and the additional applicable accessories (antennas, power supply for the base, wire, etc.). Financial Need: Because of the scope of this project, it could be several years before any of the participants would have the dedicated funding to purchase adequate radio equipment to facilitate immediate county-wide communication integration. A system-wide narrowband and trunked upgrade will require substantial funding, greater than that available to the agencies alone. The largest community having a population of just over 3,000 creates a minuscule tax base to fund the project. The fire departments and towns themselves operate on very limited budgets. Averaged out, our proposed project would cost each agency over $100,000 which exceeds all but one of the agencies’ entire annual operating budgets. Diverting such large financial resources would jeopardize day-to-day operations and most importantly, firefighter safety. With the large scale of this project, it is improbable and an overwhelming burden for the departments to replace their entire communications system at one time without financial assistance. It would require an multiple budget cycles before enough funding could be provided by each city to independently replace their obsolete radio equipment that is not compliant with narrowband requirements. Additionally, XXX County and its cities have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in Local Government Aid due to cuts within the State of Minnesota. Cost/Benefit: Simply stated, an upgrade to our radio equipment will improve communications, promote interoperability among emergency responders, increase firefighter safety and streamline response efforts at major multi-agency incidents. A favorable response to our project would ensure that the fire departments within XXX County could improve communications amongst each other and with other regional and statewide partners. Our proposal will enhance the communication between 171 firefighters and improve our services to over 9,500 citizens throughout XXX County alone. This amounts to a mere $94 per person. These figures do not, however, include additional first responders, our regional and state partners and the inflated summer population in our region due to the XX popular lakes located in our jurisdiction. There is no cost too high to ensure a safe and effective emergency response. Statement of Effect: This grant would result in improved interoperability with neighboring communities, increase our level of OSHA and NFPA compliance and bolster our on-scene effectiveness. Daily operations of the XXX County Fire Departments are anticipated to be significantly improved if we are successful with the application of this grant. In the event of infrastructure failure, this trunked system will even include a means to allow continued communications. In addition, our 8 fire departments and our dispatchers would no longer have to compete for air time on a single channel. Collectively, the cities of XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXX will be able to train together alongside other communities and County agencies to establish best practice operating guidelines for communications. Having standardized and compatible communications equipment is critical to both our own department’s welfare and that of our mutual aid infrastructure, particularly with Pipeston County, whose fire departments’ response areas actually cross over XXXXXX border. This will be a huge benefit during mutual aid incidents as the surrounding Counties will soon be operating on the 800 MHz systems developed by the State. We respectfully request that you consider this grant application in that it is for the betterment of not only one department, but a consortium of mutual aid partners. We are dedicated to continuing the scope of this project well after the period of performance. The City of XXX and our partners are deeply grateful for this opportunity and are sincere in our application. We thank you for your time and patiently await your reply. |
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