CITY OF ALTUS FIRE RESCUE
Chief J.R. Wheeler of the City of Altus Fire / Rescue Department in Altus, Oklahoma wanted to find a way to provide cost-effective fire prevention education programs that could be offered regardless of the weather. As Chief Wheeler explained, “Temperatures climb higher than 100 degrees during the summer and you can bet the wind will be blowing no matter what season we are in. We are usually in some sort of burn ban at least a portion of the year; not the most conducive atmosphere for live-burn outdoor fire extinguisher training.” Department Secretary Tara Davis said that the department researched a variety of fire extinguisher training simulation equipment vendors while remaining mindful of concerns regarding the availability of funds to purchase the equipment necessary. They determined that they wanted to purchase a BullEx BullsEye extinguisher training system. “It offered the most realistic fire extinguisher training scenarios and was more cost-effective,” said Ms. Davis. To facilitate the process, the department submitted a grant application for a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant in 2009.
Altus Fire/Rescue is a professional fire-rescue service in the city of Altus. The department is comprised of 33 first responders at two fire stations. On average, over 700 emergency calls are responded to annually. Although their immediate coverage area falls within city limits and offers protection to 21,000 residents, they also provide automatic mutual aid service to the entire county for any reported structure fire. The department offers approximately 30 annual community projects, one of which is their fire prevention program. Prior to receiving the grant funds and purchasing their BullEx laser-driven extinguisher training system, the department relied on visiting schools and businesses with a classroom program, and for those businesses which required annual OSHA hands-on fire extinguisher training, an outdoor training session with a live-fire burn pan and dry chemical and CO2 fire extinguishers. Although the training is provided at no cost to the community, the department could not fund the supplies used during training. “It would cost the city a tremendous amount of money every year to recharge our fire extinguishers used during the training programs,” said Ms. Davis, “and the community programs just don’t have the money either so we had to look at other alternatives for training”.
In an effort to ensure the success of their grant application, the department completed an informal assessment and created a basic pre-test and post-test questionnaire to satisfy the quantitative analysis requirements of their proposed fire prevention training program in the Federal application. They also included information regarding the income levels of the county residents, 32% of which fall below the National Poverty Guidelines, thereby limiting access to fire prevention training programs in fixed locations. Chief Wheeler said, “We worked closely with community programs to obtain statistics regarding areas of concern to identify a focus for portable fire prevention training opportunities.”
Since taking delivery of their BullsEye digital extinguisher training system just two months ago, the department has provided hands-on fire prevention training to more than 50 individuals. They are currently publicizing the program and are scheduling ongoing fire prevention education programs at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, schools and businesses. Tara Davis said, “Initially, I was skeptical that a simulated extinguisher scenario would be realistic enough to provide adequate levels of instruction, but the BullsEye is as close to the real thing as you can get without using live fire.”
The Fire Prevention and Safety Grant application period will be opening soon. Contact Us today for product specifications or to obtain resource information relevant to grant procurement.