The Scarborough Fire Department is very pleased to announce that we were recently awarded a Federal grant in the amount of $397,727.27 for the replacement of our self-contained breathing apparatus. This funding comes from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program administered from FEMA. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11 it became very apparent that the nation’s fire service was ill prepared to deal with that level of devastation. Departments across the country were financially struggling to replace obsolete equipment and apparatus with limited local funding for such costs. At that time there were very few opportunities for grant funding specifically designed for fire departments.

The fire service lobbied our Congressional delegation and were successful in demonstrating the significant need that created the AFG program. Over the past nearly 20 years this grant has been one of the most successful and cost-effective programs in the Federal government. From the beginning it was designed with a web-based portal application and grant management system.

Grant applications go through a three-step review and scoring process. The first step is the electronic scoring of the dozens of data points incorporated into the application. These include community and department demographics, budgets, funding sources, age and condition of equipment, response statistics, staffing statistics, and many others. That score represents 50% of the total.

The next step is a peer review panel score that represents the other 50% of the total score. The application includes narrative sections where applicants must illustrate their financial need, describe their community, the project, the budget, and a detailed cost benefit analysis. Panels of volunteers from the fire service are assembled at the National Fire Academy for a week where they are tasked with reviewing and scoring each of the narrative sections. This process assures that reviewers have fire service experience and are familiar with the equipment, apparatus, or other projects that are requested. Teams of three read each application and their scores in each section are averaged.

Finally, those applications that score highest are sent to technical review where they are assessed for a variety of compliance issues, both current, and with previous grants. The process is onerous, but that is what makes it fair and very competitive. Less than 25% of the applications received get awarded due to the limited amount of funding available each year.

Our department has been very successful with this grant process over the years, both with individual grants, and as the host department in several regional grants with our mutual aid partners. Previously we have been funded for fire prevention programs, vehicle exhaust capture systems for each of our stations, a driving simulator trailer, a sprinkler and alarm system training trailer, a human patient simulator, community paramedic training, and several others.

This year’s award is to replace our self-contained breathing apparatus. As you can imagine these are extremely important pieces of equipment. Our members wear them whenever they are fighting a fire or are in a situation where there are chemicals, smoke, or other hazards. The grant will allow us to replace 60 air packs along with 120 air cylinders and 110 facemasks so that we can deploy individually fitted masks to our most active personnel. The total anticipated cost of replacing this equipment is $437,500.00. The grant award is for $397,727.27 and the town is responsible for 10% or $39,772.73. That local match will be included in the FY23 CIP budget. Had it not been for our success in obtaining this grant, the Town would have been forced to make that entire investment locally because the current air cylinders are at the end of their legal service life and can’t be used after July 2022.

The Assistance to Firefighters Grant program has been a tremendous benefit to departments like ours across the nation. I want to personally thank our Congressional delegation for their steadfast and ongoing support of this critical source of necessary funding to keep the nations fire service ready and able to respond.

If you have questions about this article please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at mthurlow@scarboroughmaine.org or by phone at 207-730-4201.

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