This page highlights how a new aeriel apparatus was bought with a grant awarded to the Junction City Fire Department. This page is intended for fire departments and nonaffiliated Emergency Medical Service organizations (EMS).
AFG Grant Provides Junction City, Kansas with new Aerial Apparatus
As the size of Junction City, Kansas expands, so does the number of emergency calls made to their fire department. Calls have increased by 46% in the last four years. However, the department was working to meet the growing needs of the community on a budget developed in 2006, which was calculated from a 2006 census and before the recent growth expansion. In order to replace its equipment, stay in compliance with regular statues, and keep the firefighters and community safe, additional funding was desperately needed. The Junction City Fire Department was thrilled to successfully receive a 2012 AFG Grant for a $760,000 to support the purchase of a Viper Aerial Apparatus.
“With the purchase of this apparatus, we are now able to perform elevated rescues for any building within our city,” said Kevin Royse, Fire Chief. “We are also able to provide defensive master stream water applications for large commercial structure fires, thus providing safety for our firefighters during firefighting operations.” The apparatus that the grant vehicle replaced was over 24 years old, not NFPA compliant and had a history of mechanical failure. It was extremely unreliable for the department.
Royse states the 2014 109’ Viper Aerial Apparatus from Rosenbauer LLC now allows his department to perform rescue operations from any building in their community, and allows them to perform aerial water operations if needed. Junction City was awarded their grant in May 2013. The apparatus was purchased in October and placed in their service by December.
In May 2015, Junction City assisted a neighboring volunteer department that did not have a ladder truck with a three-story apartment building fire. Because of their truck, they were able to help save over 75 percent of the structure by setting up and performing defensive fire operations.
“This fire displaced over 28 people and would have destroyed the entire structure if not for our mutual aid assistance and ladder truck,” said Royse.
He praised the AFG program for taking a tremendous load off of their department.
“The AFG staff walked us through the process each step of the way,” he said. “Our Region VII FEMA rep Linda Davis was fantastic in answering any and all questions we had regarding filing of required reports and forms. She was available anytime we had a question or concern. Since our Vehicle grant, we have applied for another AFG and did receive one for EMS cots. This helped our community and our department as much as the Vehicle grant did.”