Jan./Feb. 2004
Texas Fire World
Texas Forest Service Helps Rural Fire Departments Through HB2604
The 77th Texas Legislature funded a $15 million cost-share program to
distribute fire fighting equipment to rural volunteer fire departments
through the Texas Forest Service.
The news gets better. The state has made a 10-year committment to the
program at that same level of funding, TFS official Joe Fox said.
“Some 1,300 fire departments have already received some kind of assistance
under this program,” Fox said.
The Texas Rural Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Program provides
funding to rural VFDs for the acquisition of fire fighting vehicles, fire
and rescue equipment, protective clothing, county fire radio systems,
dry-hydrants, computer systems and firefighter training.
Any chartered, non-profit volunteer fire department operated by its members
is eligible. Any part-paid/part volunteer fire department is also eligible
provided the numbers of paid members is 20 or less.
Cost-share rates vary by item. For example, the cost-share rate for a
tanker/large brush truck is 90 percent of the actual cost not to exceed
$108,000 in cost-share per vehicle. However, the cost share rate for rescue
equipment is 75 percent of the actual cost not to exceed $11,250 in cost-share.
“To date we’ve had 2,700 requests for funding,” Fox said.
“About 50 percent of the departments who have applied have been eligible
to receive something from us.”
The TFS website (http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/fire/vfd/Default.asp
then click on Rural VFP Assistance Program) has a complete breakdown on
cost-share rates per category.
Ninety percent of the requests are for fire trucks, Fox said.
“We have funded 302 fire service vehicles in the first 13 months
of the program,” Fox said.
However, items in more expensive categories carry a higher cost share
for the department. One such category is communications.
“That is a tough category for us because there is just an explosion
of requests,” Fox said. “The funding committee has only been
able to fund repeaters, base stations, paging encoders, things that will
help an entire community.”
Another tough category is rescue equipment such as hydraulic power tools.
The more expensive the item, the higher the cost share.
“It depends on what the department applies for,” Fox said. “If
they apply for training, it is almost always 100 per cent approved. If
they apply for dry hydrants, those are cheap and we approve most of those.
If they apply for a computer, we grant almost all of those because, again,
those are not expensive.”
Contined...
Avalon Volunteer Fire Department
El Dorado Volunteer Fire Department
Table of Contents
• Legislation Passed to Cover Heart Attacks
Page Two
• Two Charged in Drilling Rig Death
Page Two
• Advisory Issued on Oxygen Regulators
Page Three
• 2004 IFW Conference Info
Page Four
Halifax Blast Kills Hundreds
In 1947 two ships loaded with supposedly harmless fertilizer
exploded, wrecking Texas City, TX, and killing more than 500 people.
As bad as that was, Halifax, Nova Scotia, saw an even worse tragedy
when the relief ship Imo collided with the Mont Blanc in Halifax Harbor
on December 6, 1917. At least 1,900 people were killed.
No one but the crew knew the Mont Blanc was carrying 3000 tons of explosives
and the ship was not bearing the regulation red flag that indicated
it was carrying explosives.
The impact of the two ships was not severe, but because of the explosives,
fire erupted on the Mont Blanc.
The force of Mont Blanc’s explosion created a colossal tidal wave
that caused the bottom of the harbor to be visible. The intense heat
caused small whirlwinds to form in the air causing even more damage.
