Staff recommendation is to accept the $3,950 grant award from Yellowstone Valley Coop.

The Billings Fire Department provides structural collapse response at the specialist level to the City of Billings and BUFSA. However, due to budgetary constraints, the Billings Fire Department has been unable to designate the training funds for this class since the early 2010s. This class is necessary to maintain proficiency in rescue technician capabilities and changing threats. Additionally, the Billings Fire Department is one of six Regional Hazardous Materials Teams in the State of Montana and currently provides technician-level services in Hazardous Materials, Rescue, Collapse, Confined Space, and Trench Rescue to all of eastern Montana. The Billings Fire Department is the only all-hazards agency in southeast Montana providing these services. The eastern Montana communities Yellowstone Valley Coop serves are in the Billings Fire Department response areas for both technical rescue and hazardous materials regional response, along with the current first-due response area of the City of Billings and the Billings Urban Fire Service Area. The Billings Fire Department requested funding assistance for $10,000 to train and equip several of our rescue technicians in the Structural Collapse Specialist certification level. The Yellowstone Valley Coop Grant Review Committee awarded $3,950 in grant funds on April 16th, 2024. These funds will be used for class registration at the TEEX Structural Collapse Specialist resident course on the Texas A & M campus in the calendar year 2024. 

City Council may:

• Approve; or,
• Not Approve

No fiscal effects.

To accept the $3,950 grant award from Yellowstone Valley Coop.