Posts Tagged Assistance to Firefighters Grant

Lake Zurich gets grant for radios

Oct 9

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 3 Comments

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, awarded Lake Zurich a $218,850 grant to buy 43 radios that will allow the fire department to continue communication with area police as they transition to a new radio system.

Lake Zurich must match at least 10 percent of the grant to cover the full cost of about $240,000.

Lake Zurich plans to purchase 23 dual-band portable radios and 20 single-band mobile radios. The new radios will allow fire rescue personnel to communicate with Lake Zurich, Kildeer, and Hawthorn Woods police, who are transitioning soon with Lake County Sheriff’s Office to the StarCom 21 statewide trunked radio system.

“It’s a key piece of equipment we use,” Fire Chief John Malcolm said. “Interoperability is paramount in what we do. We have to be able to talk to other staff and the police department and our automatic aid partners, so we can communicate with them.”

As the transition to Starcom 21 occurs in the coming months, the current radio frequencies used by Lake Zurich firefighters will become extinct, Kelly said.

The trunked StarCom 21 radio system is a computer-controlled two-way radio system that allows the sharing of relatively few frequency channels among a large group of users.

“It could be Lake Zurich or a Lake County talk group,” acting Fire Chief John Kelly said. “There are so many (channels) within each frequency. A particular segment of the trunk is open, and you can talk on it. If you don’t have the radio and programming, you’re not going to be able to hear it. The radio signal and computer system decides how to assign you within a talk group.”

Assistance to Firefighters Grants are awarded through a competitive application process to fire departments, emergency medical services organizations, and state fire training academies, he said. “They put out an announcement annually. They lay out guidelines of how to apply, steps you need to go through, specifically about what funding is available. There is a peer review. If you do not fill it out correctly, the computer kicks out your application and you’re done.”

thanks Dan

Tags: acting Fire Chief John Kelly, Assistance to Firefighters Grant, Lake Zurich Fire Chief John Malcom, Lake Zurich Fire Department, Lake Zurich receives grant for new radios

New engine for Villa Park (more)

Aug 20

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 3 Comments

Excerpts from MySuburbanLife.com:

It’s been a long time coming, and now the Villa Park Fire Department’s brand new fire engine is ready for duty. The engine was scheduled to begin service Aug. 14, after arriving at the department in early July. The new engine was paid for largely with a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant. The village was awarded the $432,000 grant in July 2014 … the total cost of the engine was $522,000, so the village contributed about $90,000.

The new engine replaced the village’s 26-year-old engine, which was donated to the University of Illinois’ fire academy for training purposes.

Fire Chief Ron Rakosnik said it was “long overdue,” and after undergoing training on the new engine over the past month, the firemen are very excited to put it into use.

Rakosnik said the new engine has airbags, LED lighting, air conditioning, nicer seating, more compartments and a different pumping mechanism, and it carries paramedic equipment.

This isn’t the first time the fire department has applied for the FEMA grant. They applied in 2012 and didn’t get it. Rakosnik said they reworked the wording in the application and reapplied at the end of 2013.

“We had a lot of equipment that needed to be replaced,” he said. “Now we’re on a schedule to replace our vehicles. We’re replacing our ambulances every nine years and our fire engines every 21 years.”

Tags: Assistance to Firefighters Grant, Department of Homeland Security's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, DHS Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, Fire Chief Ron Rakosnik, new engine for Villa Park, Villa park Fire Department

Homewood FD receives federal grant

Jul 9

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

This from durbin.senate.gov:

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced today (July 2, 2014) that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has made a $1,795,860 investment in the Homewood Fire Department in Homewood, Illinois. Today’s funding will allow 18 fire departments throughout the south suburbs to buy portable radios, which will improve interoperability among departments in the area when fire fighters respond to fires, severe weather, and other emergencies. Homewood applied for the grant on behalf of the region’s joint dispatch center.

“We must ensure our nation’s fire fighters and first-responders are equipped with the best, most up-to-date tools to do their jobs effectively. Today’s grants will help meet that goal.”

The funding is provided through the DHS’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program which seeks to strengthen the Nation’s overall level of preparedness and ability to respond to fire and fire related hazards. Since 2001, the AFG has provided approximately $5.25 billion in federal funding to first-responder organizations across the country to help purchase response equipment, personal protective equipment, training, and vehicles. The AFG is in the process of awarding approximately $320.9 million in competitive grants to fire departments and non-affiliated EMS organizations from Fiscal Year 2013 AFG funding.

Tags: Assistance to Firefighters Grant, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homewood Fire Department

Area fire departments receive money from federal grants

Jul 6

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced today (July 2, 2014) that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has awarded $231,210 in grants to fire departments in the Chicagoland area. Today’s funding will support and improve the capability of each department to respond to fires and other types of emergencies.

Under this announcement, the following fire departments will receive funding for operations and safety:

Streamwood Fire Department, (Streamwood, Illinois): $211,410 in funding;

Park Forest Fire Department (Park Forest, Illinois): $19,800 in funding.

Lake Bluff Fire Department (Lake Bluff, Illinois): $42,513 in funding

The funding is provided through the DHS’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program which seeks to strengthen the Nation’s overall level of preparedness and ability to respond to fire and fire related hazards.

from durbin.senate.gov

Tags: Assistance to Firefighters Grant, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Lake Bluff Fire Department, Park Forest Fire Department, Streamwood Fire Department, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin

Hoffman Estates considers new alert system for fire department

Dec 2

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 3 Comments

This from Ron Wolkoff … the source is unclear:

Hoffman Estates firefighters may soon be benefiting from an improved alerting system and new mobile computers for five fire department vehicles.

While meeting as the public health and safety committee Monday, the Hoffman Estates village board reviewed a request to waive bidding and purchase $206,200 in new fire station alerting equipment for each of the village’s four fire stations.

The new equipment will replace systems that are more than 20 years old. It will match the master control panel that was installed in each station last year by the department’s dispatching center — Northwest Central Dispatch System — when it switched to a new computerized dispatch system.

Benefits of the new equipment include escalating tone signals and clear voice announcements, which will likely reduce cardiac stress and anxiety in firefighters and improve response time.

“Even before all the dispatch information is verbalized, there are scrolling screens and special lights on the ceiling that come on that inform members of the station that they’re going to be due to respond,” said Fire Chief Jeff Jorian.

The system is also equipped with an automatic power supply, ensuring emergency calls won’t be missed if the fire station experiences a power outage.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded an Assistance to Firefighters Grant to the department that will cover 80 percent of the cost of the new equipment.

The village will cover the remaining 20 percent, with nearly $31,000 from reserves in the general fund and about $10,300 from reserves in the EDA administration fund.

In addition to the new alerting equipment, the board also reviewed a request to waive bidding and purchase $31,000 worth of new mobile work stations to be installed in a new fire engine that has yet to be purchased and four existing vehicles in the fleet. The current mobile computer equipment in the four existing vehicles was installed in 2007 and 2008.

The village’s 2013 operating budget contains funding for the purchase of the mobile work stations.

Final board approval for the purchase of the mobile work stations and the alerting system is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 2.