Oregon Public Broadcasting

JOSEPH - The Joseph Fire Department will soon have a new four-wheel-drive fire engine, thanks to a $247,475 grant just awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant program.

"I'm thrilled," said Joseph Fire Chief Tom Clevenger about the grant, which the city applied for in September. He learned on Thursday, Feb. 2, that JFD would receive the FEMA grant.

He said there were 16,000 applicants during the 2011 grant cycle and only an estimated 8 percent were successful.

Clevenger first approached the council about the need for a four-wheel-drive truck a year ago, and has been keeping the councilors informed of the FEMA grant process since last summer.

Clevenger said the city applied for a $255,000 grant, which included some extra equipment for the fire truck, but it was rare that FEMA awarded the whole amount requested.

The city will be required to pay a match of 5 percent - or about $12,370. Clevenger said the new truck, which will carry five firefighters, will become the department's "first out" truck for all fires, whether in the city or those at locations under rural contract.

The city paid Dr. Laura Gow, an assistant professor at Eastern Oregon University who is also an Imbler Fire Department volunteer, $500 to help prepare the FEMA grant application. Clevenger said that with Joseph's application, Gow's record in preparing applications that receive grants is now a six-out-of-eight success rate.

The fire department currently has three fire engines, models ranging in age from 1995 to 1974. Clevenger said that the oldest engine, which is now stationed at the Wallowa Lake Fire Hall, will probably be sold after the brand-new truck is delivered.

"Right now I am talking to the attorney on the purchasing procedure the city has to go with," Clevenger said this week. "It will probably have to go out for sealed bids but I am not positive. I can't name a specific manufacturer right now because of our purchasing policy."

Clevenger has been working on the grant process for over a year and estimates he has about 300 hours into the project. Already five or six representatives of the major fire truck companies have visited with fire engines, and he has traveled to departments around the area to look at their engines.

Included in the grant is $5,500 for training costs to bring all Joseph firefighters up to NFPA standards. "I am still working on the details and methods of the training right now," Clevenger said.

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