During the 2022 Legislative session, two bills were signed that provided funding for the Firefighter Safety and Disease Prevention Fund. HB22-1194 provides $5 Million into the fund to support the direct funding of essential PPE. Instead of the competitive grant process that we have done in the past, this money will be used by DFPC to purchase PPE for the fire agencies. The Advisory Board has determined the initial priorities to be Structural PPE, SCBA, and Wildland PPE. The criteria will be based on budget and need. Specifically, if the PPE is either greater than 10 years old or will be used to outfit a new firefighter. The 2022 Fire Service Needs Assessment has so far documented over $20 million in PPE need alone and we only have about 50% of the fire agencies reporting.
A second bill, SB22-002, will provide $5 million a year for the next 2 years into the Firefighter Safety and Disease Prevention Fund. This funding can be either for the direct funding of equipment needs or used for the typical competitive grant process, similar to what we have done over the past few years. The Advisory Board will determine how much of the funding will be used in each scenario.
We are currently working to identify vendors that can meet the needs of this program, developing the funding request form, and creating the process of prioritizing requests. We anticipate taking requests in July and notifying successful applicants in August. Of course this is subject to change depending on the vendor selection process.
In the meantime, one of the requirements to be eligible for this funding is completing the 2022 Fire Service Needs Assessment. If you have not yet completed the survey, you can click this link to get started. The data collected will be instrumental in documenting future needs for the Legislature. The $15 million provided to the fund over the next 2 years will address a huge need but is not enough to provide every Colorado firefighter with the gear they need to do their job. The hope is with the success of this funding, and the data from the Needs Assessment, we can demonstrate the need for continuous funding for this program.
Questions:
Lisa Pine, PQT Section Chief at lisa.pine@state.co.us
Lori Brill, FFSDP Fund Direct Distribution Manager at lori.lynch-brill@state.co.us.