Borough gains grant windfall

MAT-SU -- Grant writers at the Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services have scored big, and it'll mean increased safety for those in the Central Mat-Su Emergency Services division.

Borough officials received word Oct. 24 they had received the largest U.S. Fire Administration grant ever distributed in Alaska. The $388,062 grant is expected to be available to the Mat-Su Borough within a few weeks. Borough Emergency Services Director Jack Krill said he attributes the successful grant application to the close attention to detail through the writing process.

"There was an extensive amount of research that went into this grant application, and extensive justification," Krill said. Jack Krill Jr., Battalion Chief at Central Mat-Su Fire Department and also Krill's son, wrote the grant application.

The bulk of the funds will go to update Central's self-contained breathing apparatus, Krill Jr. said. About 60 new units will replace the out-of-date SCBA packs currently used by firefighters -- some of which are 15 to 20 years old, and out of date with National Fire Protection Act standards.

According to Krill and Allen Swett, the borough's lead SCBA maintenance technician, the new units are equipped with all the bells and whistles, including four notification devices -- lights and alarm sounds -- that let the wearer know when only 25 percent of the air supply is left. The bells and whistles, they said, are geared at protecting the firefighter.

"With these [older model] packs, we've had quite a few instances where they get low, the alarm goes off and we don't realize it," Krill Jr. said. The alarm on the older-model packs, he said, can be clogged by debris relatively easily in a structural fire, which is dangerous for the wearer.

Other sensors detect whether the firefighter has been motionless and, after less than a minute of nonactivity, sound a panic alarm. And, in addition to having more warning devices, the newer packs have fewer moving parts, which will reduce maintenance time, wear and tear, and replacement costs.

Krill Jr. said about $58,000 had been set aside in Central's fire service area budget this year for replacement or upgrades to the existing packs. Swett said each new pack cost around $4,000 -- sometimes more for upgrades to existing equipment.

"We've been replacing them a little bit each year over the last five to six years," Krill Jr. said. On the current schedule of replacement, he said, it would have taken three to five years to replace all of the units. But even then, Swett said, the borough would have been behind the game.

To cut costs, he said, the packs the borough used previously were updated to meet new standards. Along with the about 60 SCBA packs that are 15 to 20 years old and unable to be updated, about 40 are under 10 years old and can simply be outfitted with new regulators that meet safety standards. The old packs, which aren't able to be upgraded, will be returned to the manufacturer, Krill Jr. said, in hopes of obtaining credit toward new equipment.

With the new packs, Krill Jr. said, the grant will pay for personal face masks for each person in the department. Previously, he said, each SCBA pack had a face mask, and the person using the pack wiped down the mask after each use. New safety standards recommend personal face masks, he said, which should prevent the spread of germs.

Aside from purchasing the SCBA packs, Krill Jr. said they plan to purchase reflective safety gear for use by emergency medical technicians, to allow them to operate safely in the hot zone of incidents. Additional sets of gear will also be purchased for each firefighter, so everyone in the department has two sets of gear. Having only one set, he said, especially in a department staffed by paid volunteers, can mean some firefighters aren't able to respond to calls because they don't have another set of gear.

"When it gets dirty, it takes a day to wash and dry," Krill Jr. said. "If they have two sets, there's always one available."

With added training exercises, available since the construction of a fire training tower on Knik-Goose Bay Road, Krill Jr. said, gear gets worn and dirty more often. In addition to providing time for cleaning, having two sets of gear will allow for one to be repaired or replaced without taking the firefighter off duty.

Krill Jr. said the department plans to have the new equipment purchased and begin training on its use by January.

According to information from Bea Adler, Emergency Management Programs Coordinator for the department, the borough received two additional grants from the U.S. Fire Administration for similar equipment. The Butte fire department was given a grant of $80,236 and the Talkeetna fire department received a grant of $51,272. With a grant distributed to the Big Lake fire department earlier in the year for $47,893, Adler said, the borough has received more than $567,000 this year through the administration.