AFG program not benefiting FF's?

[traumajunky 5]

http://www.firehouse.com/news/top-headlines/ny-village-officials-question-afg-grant-award

Ok so what do others think about this topic and have you experienced resistance to AFG's from local government?

On another note to the above story; this Dept. has very limited exercise equipment (1 treadmill and a free weight bench) and in 2008 this Dept. lost one of their firefighters to a heart attack after being upwards of 440lbs... I think the Dept. would greatly benefit from new exercise equipment!

[Bnechis 3,961]

Ok so what do others think about this topic and have you experienced resistance to AFG's from local government?

I know a number of depts that have had problems, but in every case its because they did not ask 1st. It is clear that the village has a lot of issues to resolve and its clear they had no prior knowledge of the pupose of 65% of this grant.

On another note to the above story; this Dept. has very limited exercise equipment (1 treadmill and a free weight bench) and in 2008 this Dept. lost one of their firefighters to a heart attack after being upwards of 440lbs... I think the Dept. would greatly benefit from new exercise equipment!

While exercise equipment (along with a program to use it) is a very important in improving/maintaining a FD's ability, the 440 pounder would have other issues that need addressing 1st.

[FireMedic049 597]

http://www.firehouse.com/news/top-headlines/ny-village-officials-question-afg-grant-award

Ok so what do others think about this topic and have you experienced resistance to AFG's from local government?

Yes, my department has experienced a mixed response from our City government. We have been allowed to apply a number of times and been successful at least 3 times. However, we've also experienced some resistance at times, mainly regarding the matching fund end of things. We were turned down for applying in the current period.

Personally, I think alot of our problem is that the Fire Chief doesn't do a good job at educating the city officials on why we should be allowed to apply for any grants we can. Basically, I don't think the city officials clearly understand that the stuff we want to apply for are things that WE NEED and that this is a way for them to potentially purchase the needed items at a substantial "discount". For example, most of our SCBA cylinders reach the end of their life next year and we need to purchase new SCBA units, yet we didn't apply for an AFG this year and probably aren't planning for a capital purchase either.

On another note to the above story; this Dept. has very limited exercise equipment (1 treadmill and a free weight bench) and in 2008 this Dept. lost one of their firefighters to a heart attack after being upwards of 440lbs... I think the Dept. would greatly benefit from new exercise equipment!

Clearly a body weight in excess of 400 lbs is a much bigger factor than the lack of exercise equipment in the firehouse.

I don't really mean this as bad as it sounds, but at 400+ lbs, they lost a member of their fire department to a heart attack, not a firefighter.

[ajsbear 11]

The govt officials are talking about liability issues in the article. Would it not be a greater liability when someone, an active ff has a hard attack due to lack of fitness? We loose more active people due to heart attack than anything else. In addition when a member is in the gym working out that is one more member responding and can get the rig out faster. I know when I am in the gym and the alarm comes in I now can get the rigs all started, gear up, check the pre plan for the address, check the map for the best route all while waiting for the crew.