GREAT FALLS — Great Falls Fire Rescue was recently awarded an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the amount of $990,500.
According to GFFR, the AFG is the largest individual grant awarded to them, and the largest Montana AFG Grant since 2015.
The money will be used toward buying a Quint aerial apparatus that will replace GFFR's 96' SME Smeal Quint aerial, which has exceeded its service life.
GFFR Risk Reduction Manager Katie Brewer, who wrote the grant, explained the importance the funding serves.
"We don’t have the funding available through the city budget to afford a new vehicle like this, so we do have to look outside our normal financial revenue areas," She said.
As with other grants awarded to the GFFR, the application was written in-house, not contracted to a grant writing service, which resulted in cost savings for GFFR and the City.
The 96' Quint has undergone major repairs and mechanical maintenance over the years as a result of heavy response volume.
Great Falls Fire Chief Jeremy Jones talked about the the apparatus and why it is now out of service.
"In 1996, the city purchased that apparatus when we put it into frontline status. We were able to maintain that for about five years until we really started to have structural failures within the truck itself. Over the course of it's lifetime, it had to go back to the factory and had the frame completely rebuilt. The manufacturer of that apparatus was in a lawsuit due to deficiencies within that."
Due to AFG requirements and ongoing mechanical issues, the 96' Quint will be retired and no longer used for emergency response once the new aerial apparatus is purchased and in service.
GFFR will be going through Pierce Manufacturing for their new aerial apparatus.
GFFR said the purchase of the new aerial apparatus would not be possible without the AFG funding.
Chief Jones also credited the City Commission for its support: "Upon being successful, we didn't quite meet the threshold of what we needed to purchase an apparatus, so they allowed us to use the fleet management reserve funds through our city shops to be able to secure the funding the purchase this apparatus."
Once in service, it will become GFFR's primary frontline apparatus, responding to all incident types, and will also be utilized when assigned to respond to mutual aid incidents outside city limits. The apparatus will be placed based at Fire Station 4 on Fox Farm Road.
Benefits of the new Quint include increased safety and response to communities and fire fighters. Densely populated areas with multilevel businesses and apartments limit accessibility, which is why the new Quint will include a 107ft ladder compared to the 75ft ladder on the 96' Quint. This allows for increased vertical and horizontal reach, improves range and accessibility in tighter spaces, and boosts extension to buildings set back from the street. It will also improve high and low-angle rescue in areas involving cliffs and along the river.
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