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Mt. Shasta Vista Volunteer Fire
Company
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13502 Roland Dr.
Montague, CA 96064
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Mt. Shasta Vista Volunteer Fire
Company
________________________________________________________________
13502 Roland Dr.
Montague, CA 96064
Phone: 530 340-2297
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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Siskiyou
County
volunteer fire companies are
celebrating increased safety for their firefighters and communities thanks to
funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The grants are part
of $650 million that will provide direct assistance to thousands of fire
departments across the nation this year. “
“We recognize the importance of the Fire Act Grants to our nation’s
fire departments and we will continue to work closely with the fire service
community to meet their needs,” says Matt A. Mayer, Acting Executive Director
of Office for State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness.
Gazelle Fire Protection District served as the umbrella agency for a $907,260
regional grant, the largest FEMA grant ever awarded in
California
. The money will be used to
purchase new communications equipment for all participating fire companies and
volunteer ambulance companies. Like telephone lines, band widths on the
wideband frequencies have all been used up. More frequencies are possible in
narrow bandwidths than in wide bandwidths. “The FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) is going to require that everything go to narrow bandwidths,” says
South Yreka Volunteer Fire Department’s Chief Tom Bagwell. “So
we wrote and were awarded a regional grant for communications for the entire
county. We are trying to get ahead of the curve. We are probably one of the
first counties in the state to be able to comply with the new FCC
regulations.”
“Interoperability”
is a word that can mean saved lives, says Bagwell. “With the new equipment we
can go out your way and talk to Mt. Shasta Vista Volunteer Fire Company and we
can talk to
Butte
Valley
– we can all talk to
everyone.” The communications grant will pay for updating seven existing
mountaintop repeaters and adding two new ones. “We’ll have better coverage
in this county than we’ve ever had,” says Bagwell.
The cost
of accomplishing this would have been prohibitive without FEMA funding and
Siskiyou
County
support. “This big giant gob
of money is astronomical for these departments,” says Chief Bagwell. “None
of the departments in
Siskiyou
County
can afford this. Even the
matching amount that is required was going to be a problem. The
County
of
Siskiyou
is paying the five percent
match for everybody. The Board of Supervisors really came through on that. We
are all, the fire companies, the people of Siskiyou - we are getting nearly a
million dollars worth of state-of-the-art public safety equipment for free. ”
Grenada
Fire Protection District received $98,260 for personal protective equipment for
use in wild land and structure fires. “The equipment is important to
firefighter and community safety and we couldn’t have accomplished it without
FEMA’s help,” says Chief
Bill
Haars.
Weed
City
Fire Department will receive
$62,980 for truck-mounted equipment, including new hoses, nozzles,
extrication equipment and a thermal imaging camera.
Mt. Shasta
Vista Volunteer Fire Company (MSVVFC) received $22,484. “This grant will
provide new wild land and structure gear; replace our old and heavy Self
Contained Breathing Apparatus tanks with nice light ones, some new fire
extinguishers, and some important emergency medical equipment,” says Chief
Mary Cameron
.
McCloud
Community Services District will use $275,000 for a new vehicle. Lake Shastina
Community Services District was awarded $48,414 for personal protective
equipment.
“The Assistance
to Firefighters Grants ensure that the nation’s firefighters continue to have
the basic ability they require to do their jobs, improve safety and save
lives,” says David Paulison, Acting Undersecretary for the Department of
Homeland Security’s Emergency Preparedness and Response.
The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is administered by the
Department of Homeland Security in cooperation with the Department’s United
States Fire Administration.
Community fire service is deeply rooted in FEMA history. The agency was formed
by Congressional Act of 1803 which provided assistance to a
New Hampshire
town following an extensive
fire. This was our nation’s first piece of disaster legislation. In the
century that followed,
ad hoc
legislation was passed more than 100 times in response to hurricanes,
earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, eventually this accumulative
legislation led to the formation of FEMA. Today FEMA is part of the new
Department of Homeland Security and is tasked with responding to, planning for,
recovering from and mitigating against disasters.
In addition to funding local fire companies,
FEMA works to increase public safety through educational efforts. In
Siskiyou
County
we must prepare ourselves for wild land fires.
According to the FEMA web site, “If the area immediately surrounding your
house contains trees, shrubs, and other vegetation; yard debris; or other
materials that burn easily, your house will be at an increased risk of damage
during wildfires and forest fires. These combustible materials provide a path by
which fire from nearby areas can reach your house. You should clear the area
around your house. Shrubs, brush, woodpiles, and combustible debris should be
removed within a radius of 30 feet. The distance between your house or
outbuilding and any nearby tree should always be greater than the height of the
mature tree or at least 10 feet.”
Consider fire safety when planning a new or
updating an old landscape - rather than plant shrubs near your house, consider
landscaping alternatives such as creating a rock garden.
Find more information about protecting against
and being ready for fire at http://www.fema.gov/fima/how2001.shtm
and http://www.fema.gov/fima/how2002.shtm.
For more information about the Assistance to
Firefighters Grant Program, please visit the program web site at http://www.firegrantsupport.com/
or contact the Grants Program Office at 1-866-274-0960. For more information
about USFA, please visit the website at http://www.usfa.fema.gov/.
The grants help to show how donations of any
size to can have a big impact on your local fire company’s ability to serve
the community. Eleven hundred dollars of MSVVFC funds allowed them to qualify
for assistance in purchasing about $22,000 worth of equipment. Call your local
fire company to find out how you can help through donations or volunteering.
McCloud Community Services District 964-2422, Weed City Fire Department
938-5030, Grenada Fire Protection District 436-2200, Lake Shastina Community
Services District 938-3161, Mt. Shasta Vista Volunteer Fire Company 340-2297.
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Submitted by:
Marjorie King
Grant Program Coordinator
Mt. Shasta Vista Volunteer Fire Company
938-0350
marjorieking@starband.net
