Weiser City Fire and Rescue will seek grant for breathing devices

By: 
Steve Lyon

Weiser City Fire and Rescue plans to hire a consulting firm that specializes in writing grants to assist the department in applying for federal funds to buy two dozen new airpacks.
 Fire chief Kerry Nyce recently asked the city council to approve engaging consultant JMCM Consulting to pursue funding from FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant in the amount of $188,556.
 The firm began offering grant writing services in 2005 to volunteer fire departments as the Fire Rescue Help Group. Today, JMCM provides assistance with developing applications for the AFG program to over 200 fire departments and municipalities. The company’s success rate in obtaining grants for fire departments is in the 90-plus percent range, he said.
 “They do a lot of them. They know how to streamline the information,” Nyce said.
 The city council authorized Nyce to work with the company in applying for funding through the AFG program. The city will have to come up with a 5 percent match for the grant, which amounts to $8,978. The consulting fee for hiring JMCM will cost about $8,500.  
 Nyce said he will set aside the amount of the grant match in the fire department’s fiscal year 2021 budget. The consulting firm will get paid only if the fire department is successful in getting the grant, the fire chief said.
 “If we don’t get the grant, we’re not obligated,” Nyce said
 The consultant will develop the application by collecting information on many years of fire runs, the fire department’s finances, the demographics of the community served and more. Once the application is done, it will come back to the fire department for review and approval.
 If the city is successful in getting the grant, Nyce said representatives from two or three of the top manufacturers will be invited to demonstrate their airpacks under different scenarios and the department will make a decision on which to purchase.
 The grant will cover the cost of 25 new airpacks for the fire department, one for each seat in the fire engines and the command vehicles. The fire department’s current airpacks, which are also known as self-contained breathing apparatus, are still certified but are getting older and date from 2007.
 The city fire department will have a year to spend the grant money if it is awarded. If the fire department doesn’t get the grant, Nyce said he will have a backup plan and will still allocate funds in the department’s FY 2021 budget for new equipment.
 “One way or another I will get fire equipment. If I get the grant we’ll pay for the airpacks. If I don’t get the grant we’re going to pay for other stuff,” he told city council members.
 He said the department should know in late April or early May if it was successful in getting a federal grant.
 In the current fiscal year, the fire department allocated $21,000 for new turnouts, which are the heavy, protective coats and pants that firemen wear. They were ordered in late December and the department is waiting for them to be delivered. There is a shortage of Nomex and other materials that go into the turnouts, Nyce said.
 The recommendation from the National Fire Protection Association is that fire departments only use turnouts for 10 years. The coats come with two layers on the inside. One layer is a vapor barrier so water will shed off and the second is the thermal layer.

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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