Consideration and Approval of Grant Applications and Acceptance upon Award:   Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) Federal Fiscal Year 2019 for Fire Department Application grant funding for large set of battery operated extrication tools.

This Staff Summary seeks approval of the grant applications and approval upon award of GOHS grant funding for the Flagstaff Fire Department. We are requesting grant funds in the amount of three separate grant submittals; 1) Heavy Duty Cutters - $10,355- 2) Heavy Duty Spreader - $12,535- 3) Heavy Duty Ram - $8,175 . Grant funds allocated by these FY 2019 grants to the Flagstaff Fire Department, will assist in the purchase of portable battery operated heavy duty extrication tools. These funds are not otherwise available in our budget. There is no match requirement for this grant.
 

There is no significant financial impact to the Flagstaff Fire Department in terms of costs. The expenditures will be budgeted in FY 2019 in 001-03-052-6044-2-4405 with 100% offset in grant revenue.
 

No policy impact.

Strategic Plan Priority: Provide exceptional service
 

Yes, Council has accepted prior funded GOHS grants for the Fire Department
 

-  Approve the Grant Application(s) and Acceptance Upon Award
-  Disapprove the Grant Applications(s) and Do Not Accept Award

The Flagstaff Fire Department is an All-Risk emergency response entity that covers response to numerous major highways and interstates in the City and region.  Last year alone, we responded to 344 Highway incidents (293 - Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVA’s), 51 MVA vs. Pedestrian) requiring our units to provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) and or extrication abilities.  We are also called in to support four adjacent Fire Districts for Mutual Aid, which are commonly due to multi-vehicle, or large semi type MVA’s on the Interstates.  By putting these heavier duty tools on our centrally staged extrication front line response unit, we are able to provide extrication to our patients much more effectively and decrease the time our Firefighters are on the scene (often with only one lane allowed to be shut down in order to keep traffic moving on the Interstates), which in turn would significantly increase our and commuter safety. 
 

The Flagstaff Fire Department is the primary Emergency Medical Response (EMS) agency for all motor vehicle accidents in the City and also respond for any large incident within the region.  Due to our location at the intersection of I-40 and I-17 we see dozens of high speed accidents that require extrication equipment to remove entrapped patients.  We are looking at putting these heavier duty battery operated units on our centrally located unit (Station #2).  Currently we have an older generator type unit that is part of our Quint, but plan to move the Quints into an East/West Co-staff scenario to reduce apparatus costs and increase response times with a smaller Type 1 Engine at Station #2.  By using more powerful battery operated units on a smaller Type 1 Engine (v. Quint), we would be able to reduce the impacts of reduced or stopped traffic flow in our response areas during incidents.  These very versatile and powerful tools would allow our central based extrication unit (located adjacent to the 1-40 and I-17 corridors) to have access to a heavy duty battery operated tool for immediate extrication efforts that are commonly beyond the capabilities of the smaller Combi Tools we carry on the departments other Type 1 Engines.  The benefit of this heavy duty set of tools would dramatically enhance our ability to provide effective and rapid extrication in multiple locations for our heavily traveled 4 season region when larger (or smaller) vehicles are involved. 
 

 

The Fire Department grant applications will assist the Flagstaff Fire Department by reducing response times to the scene and enhancing scene and life safety through quicker use of heavy duty battery operated extrication equipment once on the scene.