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Newletters From August, 2004
LAWMOWER CAUSES FIRE: 44-YEAR-OLD LANDOWNER CHARGED WITH ARSON CAUSING $1.8 MILLION IN DAMAGE TO HIS SHASTA LAKE NEIGHBORS
Originally Posted: August 27, 2004 7:46 PM
Last Updated: August 27, 2004 8:03 PM
William Matthew Rupp, 44 faces felony arson and up to six years in prison for allegedly disregarding the risk of wildfire on August 11, 2004 in 100 degree temperature making sparks while cutting his dry grass with a riding lawn mower. 11,000 acres and 86 homes were destroyed. He and a county employhee unsuccessfully tried to put the fire out as it spread.
The fire burned the pine and oak-covered Shasta Lake hills north of Sacramento, CA.
To find a NEEDA NEWSLETTER story on a subject of interest to you, use the "Serch" box on the upper right of your screen. To read the whole story about the Lake Sasta fire, click on the headline of this NEEDA article.
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$22 MILLION IN MATCHING FIRE ACT GRANTS ISSUED TO 221 LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS: 13th IN SERIES TO EVENTUALLY TOTAL $750 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS
Originally Posted: August 27, 2004 7:25 PM
Last Updated: August 27, 2004 7:29 PM
This thirteenth round of grants provides $22,170,719 to help local fire departments purchase firefighting equipment, fund firefighter health and safety programs, enhance emergency medical services programs, and conduct fire education and prevention programs.
271 50-50 matching grants to US fire departments in the thirteenth round of the Fiscal Year 2004 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program have been issued by the Department of Homeland Security under the Fire Act grant program. The grants will ultimately total approximately 8,000 awards worth nearly $750 million in direct assistance to firefighters throughout the country.
For more information on Fire Act grants, use the "Search" box in the upper right of your screen. NEEDA NEWSLETTER has published numerous matching Fire Act grant stories. To read the complete story in this NEEDA article, click on the underlined headline.
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CHILDREN WHO START 71,000 FIRES CAUSE 250 DEATHS FOCUS OF TRAINING GRANT: ARKANSAS, ILLINOIS, MISSISSIPPI, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, TENNESSEE, TEXAS AND WISCONSIN ARE TARGETS
Originally Posted: August 25, 2004 7:19 PM
Last Updated: August 25, 2004 7:19 PM
Children, some as young as 2 years old, start more than 71,000 fires every year, causing an average of $245 million in property damage, 2,100 injuries, and 250 deaths.
Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children ages 3-5 and fire is the third largest cause of such fatal injuries. Nearly three-quarters of all people who die in child-started fires are children aged 5 and under.
The "train the trainer" workshops are made available to preschool directors and teachers in states with high rates of fire-related deaths and injuries for children. States targeted for 2004 include: Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Fireproof Children/Prevention First, an international injury prevention and fire safety education center based in Rochester, NY has received a $717,584 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency/Department of Homeland Security to expand its program Prevention First, Fire Safety Education for Preschool Children and Families.
For the complete story on this grant, click on the headline of this news brief. To search our NEEDA data base, use the "Search" box in the upper right of your screen.
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COALITION URGES CONGRESS TO SAY NO TO NEXTEL AND ADOPT PLAN TO HELP ALL FIRST RESPONDERS COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER
Originally Posted: August 25, 2004 5:03 PM
Last Updated: August 25, 2004 5:03 PM
Police and fire divisions in cities and counties still do not have coordinated communications capabilities, according to the First Response Coalition, formed in June 2004, whose goal is to get Congress to overturn the Nextel spectrum proposal in favor of a plan that deals both with interference problem and the interoperability crisis.
The First Response Coalition proposes a plan to "auction off the spectrum that the FCC plans to give away and dedicate the $5-10 billion that would be raised for communication system upgrades. (The plan) also would accelerate regional deployment to ensure that a majority of systems nationwide are upgraded by 2006."
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ELEVEN MILLION IN MATCHING FIRE ACT GRANTS AWARDED TO LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Originally Posted: August 22, 2004 8:43 PM
Last Updated: August 22, 2004 8:43 PM
125 matching grants to fire departments have been approved in the twelfth round of the Fiscal Year 2004 Assistance to Fire Grant Program. The grants will ultimately total approximately 8,000 awards worth nearly $750 million in direct assistance to firefighters throughout the country, demonstrating Homeland Security's commitment to ensuring that America's firefighters have the resources they need to protect their communities.
C. Suzanne Mencer, Director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP), heads the division of the Department of Homeland Security that now administers the Fire Act grant program.
This twelfth round of 50-50 matching grants provides $11,5 million to help local fire departments purchase firefighting equipment, fund firefighter health and safety programs, enhance emergency medical services programs, and conduct fire education and prevention programs.
For other NEEDA NEWS stories on the Fire Act grant insert Fire Act in the Search box at the top right of this screen.
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LADDER 49 MOVIE BY TOUCHSCREEN GETS SPECIAL WEBSITE THROUGH FIREHOUSE MAGAZINE: STARS JOHN TRAVOLTA
Originally Posted: August 17, 2004 8:56 PM
Last Updated: August 17, 2004 8:56 PM
Firehouse Magazine has launched a website devoted to the upcoming October 1, 2004 release of the firefighting movie LADDER 49, starring Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta.
The site will include stories from the shooting of the film in Baltimore MD, photos, discussion forums, downloadable trailers and desktop wallpapers, screensavers, and LADDER 49 related products. Interviews with the film's stars, technical advisors and production team.
Firehouse.com is for fire, rescue and EMS. Firehouse Magazine has 90,000 monthly subscribers. Both are part of Cygnus Business Media's Public Safety Group.
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APPLY NOW FOR $27.5 MILLION IN 2004 FIRE PREVENTION AND SAFETY
Originally Posted: August 17, 2004 5:39 PM
Last Updated: August 17, 2004 5:39 PM
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of State and Local Government Coordination & Preparedness (SLGCP), says the application period for the 2004 Fire Prevention and Safety Grants will be September 1 through September 30, 2004.
This program is part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program that will award over $700 million to firefighters to help local fire departments purchase vehicles and equipment, fund health and safety programs, enhance
emergency medical services programs, and conduct fire education and prevention programs.
For more info from NEEDA about the Fire Act matching grant program, use the "search" box in the upper right of your screen. For the complete version of this story click on the headline.
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EMS IN EASTERN WASHINGTON RECEIVE 150 GPS UNITS TO GUIDE MEDSTAR FLIGHT CREWS TO INCIDENT SITES
Originally Posted: August 17, 2004 8:12 AM
Last Updated: August 17, 2004 8:12 AM
Through a $16,100 grant from the Washington State Trauma Care Fund, a division of the Washington State Department of Health, Northwest MedStar is donating 150 Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) units to 49 public safety agencies in 14 counties in eastern Washington state.
NEEDA Executive Director Kenton Pattie visited this area of Western Washington-Northern Idaho during the wildfire season of 2002 and interviewed wildfire fighters.
This brings the total to 450 GPS units being used in this area where population is spread out, mountains and dirt roads make rescue difficult.
"A GPS device would greatly assist in providing MedStar with accurate landing zone coordinates and would speed up the transport of the patient to the hospital," said John Rumelhart, administrative assistant at Pend Oreille County Fire Department #2 near Spokane, Washington.
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FIRE ACT GRANTS TO TOTAL $750 MILLION FOR FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Originally Posted: August 12, 2004 7:01 PM
Last Updated: August 12, 2004 7:01 PM
411 matching grants to fire departments throughout the United States have been made under the Fiscal Year 2004 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. The grants will ultimately total approximately 8,000 awards worth nearly $750 million in the Federal share in direct assistance to firefighters throughout the country.
The grants are being released in batches and this is the 10th batch.
The Federal matching grant funds can be used for apparatus, equipment, and training.
Click on the upper right corner of this screen to get more NEEDA NEWS stories about the fire act grants. Click on the headline of this story to get more information from NEEDA on today's story.
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RATHEON INFRARED INTRODUCES NEW COLOR THERMAL IMAGING PRODUCT FOR FIRST RESPONDERS
Originally Posted: August 12, 2004 5:03 PM
Last Updated: August 12, 2004 5:11 PM
Raytheon (Waltham MA) says its new Thermal-Eye(TM) 3500AS thermal imaging core with Thermal-Eye Advanced Image Processing technology will help firefighters see in dense, dark, smoke conditions where survivors might otherwise be overlooked. The product was introduced this week at the Fire Chiefs show in New Orleans LA.
One of the unique features of the 3000AS is showing objects in color. The user can set color points at discrete, definable temperatures. This allows the first responder to judge the temperature of objects in a scene quickly and make rapid decisions. The color point of high-heat temperatures can be set to hues such as red, orange or yellow, and cooler temperatures remain in grey shades.
When firefighters use the camera in a burning structure, they are able to identify the hottest areas easily while seeing scene detail while knowing the temperature of the walls, floors, ceilings and objects within the structure.
Raytheon Infrared Fire and Rescue Market Director Michael Studer. "In their line of work, that extra edge could very well make the difference between life and death for their victims, colleagues or themselves."
Raytheon, 03 sales of $18.1 billion, manufacturers for defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, business and special mission aircraft markets.
MORE INFO? 972-344-8480, Kay Kitchens, or www.raytheoninfrared.com
Click on the headline to read the complete NEEDA NEWSLETTER story on color Thermal Imaging and click on the upper right of your screen to get other valuable dealer information provided by NEEDA.
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