While having a life-expectancy of 10 to 15 years is not very long in human terms, in the world of fire service that is sometimes as long as a piece of equipment can be relied on to get a job done.
For the Borough of Woodbine in Cape May County, their fire department had been getting along with a pumper truck that, at 22 years old and plenty of miles on the odometer, had long outlived its usefulness.
For many communities and fire departments, FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) is an option to secure funding for vehicle acquisition, but being a national program, competition is tough (by the way, Triad has an excellent track record of securing AFG awards for our clients in need of vehicles, Personal Protective Equipment and more, so keep us in mind when the AFG Program opens again in the coming weeks).
In this case, however, Woodbine turned to Triad Associates to prepare two successful applications for funds to purchase a new truck: one to the NJ Department of Community Affairs’ (DCA) HUD-funded Small Cities Program which, in part, provides grants to obtain fire equipment, and one to the US Department of Agriculture – Rural Development Program. Together, these two funding sources contributed nearly $450,000 towards the purchase.
Recently, Woodbine took delivery of their new 1,000-gallon pumper, which was built in South Dakota and driven across the country to its new home here.
And what happened to the 22-year-old truck this new one replaced? It was sold by the Borough to an Amish community in Arkansas who came and picked it up, with the proceeds of the sale put towards the purchase of the new pumper.
Congratulations to Woodbine and the Woodbine Volunteer Fire Department!
