City Commissioners will be asked to approve a grant application during their March 5 meeting for firefighting equipment.

Great Falls Fire Rescue is planning to submit a grant application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program for $74,570.25 for operations and safety equipment.

City staff are recommending that commissioners approve the application.

If approved, FEMA would pay 90 percent of the total equipment cost, or $67,791.14 and the city’s match would be $6,779.11. The match would come from GFFR’s safety equipment fund, according to the staff report.

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GFFR is planning to purchase fire hose and thermal imaging cameras.

“Great Falls Fire Rescue has not been able to replace a large amount of emergency operations and safety equipment due to the increased costs of equipment and status quo budgets.  It is not feasible to attempt to address these items through normal budgetary means,” according to the staff report.

GFFR has a $50,000 budget line item for safety equipment to cover replacements and the department has used it to provide matching funds for these grants in the past.

GFFR receives grant for safety equipment

GFFR is seeking the grant to replace fire attack hose that was put into service in 2001.

Much of this hose has been failing annual testing or been damaged on actual fire responses, according to GFFR, and FEMA set the intermediate life expectancy of such hose at 8-14 years.

The grant would also fund the purchase of thermal imaging cameras that are used to assist finding victims in zero visibility conditions; finding the seat of a fire, hidden fire and dangers such as holes in floors and structural collapses, according to GFFR.

The department’s current cameras are frequently out of service and have become unreliable, according to GFFR.