Indian River Commences with Capital Campaign Initiative..

The Indian River Volunteer Fire Company approved a Capital Campaign Initiative for implementation in Calendar Year 2025.  This Capital Campaign Initiative commences in February 2025 and run through the Spring of 2025.  Illustrated herewith is some critical information regarding the campaign objectives - https://irvfc.com/messageCenter/detail?id=53196

THE NEED FOR COMMUNITY SUPPORT…

In the past five years, the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. (hereby referred as “Indian River”) has experienced a significant increase in demand for fire suppression and rescue type services.  Unlike our mutual aid partners, Indian River does not have access to local municipality or town financial support to assist in covering the operational cost of its volunteer fire service.  Consequently, we depend heavily on donations from our residents and local businesses as well as other fundraising initiatives to sustain our operational objectives and expenses.

Indian River’s call volume for both fire and rescue emergencies continue to rise, paralleling the growth in the population served within our respective fire district.  Additionally, during the summer months, the population surges with an influx of thousands of people to our local communities.  This seasonal population growth is estimated to exceed 48,500 within Indian River’s fire district during the summer months.

Indian River is a 100% volunteer fire department that provides fire and rescue services to the Oak Orchard, Long Neck and surrounding jurisdictions in Sussex County, Delaware.  The department maintains a fleet of 21 pieces of emergency apparatus to include 1 Engine/Tanker, 2 Rescue/Engines, 1 Tower Ladder, 1 Engine Pumper, 3 marine units, 8 ancillary support units, 2 command units, 1 Brush truck and 2 ATV/UTV units and various other miscellaneous response units.

These units are housed in 2 fire stations that protect 80 square miles of the Indian River fire district.

DEMAND FOR SERVICES CONTINUES TO INCREASE…

The ongoing expansion of the Long Neck region has led to heightened demand for a variety of emergency services, including fire suppression, motor vehicle accident mitigations, water and residential rescue services, among many others.  With the population growth, particularly within retirement and vacation localities, there’s a pressing need to bolster the standard of service for our residents.  The surge in motor vehicle accidents necessitated updates to the department’s extrication tools on our rescue and engine/pumper apparatus and other primary response units.

The department’s Fire Prevention and Educational Awareness Initiatives have also increased.  We provided fire safety lectures and presentations, fire apparatus demonstrations, and other safety awareness discussions to many of the new homeowner associations, RV campgrounds, community service organizations, and other residential communities.

In Calendar Year 2024, the fire and rescue response volumes significantly exceeded the number of annual calls the department handled in its corporate history.  This actual fire and rescue call volume amounted to 558 incidents -  https://irvfc.com/gallery/detail/53014   

In Calendar 2024, 40 percent of the incident dispatches were for automatic fire alarms or fire alarm sounding incidents within a residential or commercial structure.  Many of these activations were due to operator error, malfunction, system design, unintentional or other rationale -  https://irvfc.com/gallery/detail/53059?ss=1

Every unwarranted fire alarm incident is costly and disrupting to residents, schools and businesses, as well as placing unnecessary strain on emergency services, and reducing the public’s faith in fire alarm systems.  An unwarranted fire alarm is: any fire alarm signal other than a genuine fire or signal test. The cause of these unwarranted fire alarms can be attributed to human behavior - either good intent or malicious, or due to equipment neglect.

On average, the population growth within the Indian River Fire District has increased substantially over the past few years.  As the population increases so does the demand for fire department and ancillary support services.

FIRE SERVICES…

The services provided by Indian River are unmatched to any other time in the department’s history.  Unprecedented growth of single-family homes, many of which are residential communities, apartment buildings, commercial establishments and storage facilities impact the resources of our department.  Responding to automobile accidents and fires involving electric vehicles (EV) have become a key challenge due to their inherent dangers.

Indian River also provides maritime services protecting sections of the Rehoboth and Indian River Bays as well as many other local tributaries, prongs, retention ponds and waterways.  These waterways encompass an additional 32 square miles that we protect with our 3 marine units and ancillary support vehicles.

Our first due fire district hosts some critical infrastructure facilities which includes 2 water treatment plants, an electric generating plant with substation and transmission lines to the national grid, and some bulk LP gas storage depots.

Indian River participates in automatic mutual aid relationships for all fire calls and some water rescue incidents with the 7 other neighboring departments in our county.

WHAT ARE OUR IMMEDIATE NEEDS AND LONG-TERM NEEDS…

Immediate & Ongoing Operational Needs –

• Ensuring financial stability for acquiring essential operational equipment is our primary concern.

Illustrated herewith are firefighter gear and equipment costs analysis and additional information:

•  Firefighter Structure Fire Boots - $623.50 per pair

• Firefighting Gloves - $125.00 per pair

• Firefighter Structural Helmet - $454.00 each

• Firefighter Nomex Hood - #138.99 each

• Firefighter Suspenders - $74.99 per pair

• Firefighter Turnout Coat & Pants (PPE) - $4,500 per set

• Firefighter Ear Protection - $646.99 each

• Firefighter Flashlight - $96.99

• Firefighter Portable Fire Radio - $9,500

• Firefighter Breathing Apparatus Face piece - $525.00 each

• Dive Suit - $3,200.00

• Thermal Imaging Camera - $3,999.00

  • Thermal Imaging Truck Mount & Charger - $699.99

• Firefighter Hose Line Nozzle - $1,189.59

• MSA 6-Gas Chemical Detector - $4,975.00 each

• Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus without air bottle - $15,692.84

• Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Air Bottle - $3,500.00

In Calendar Year 2022, Indian River was awarded an Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) via the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and one of affiliates for 41 sets of firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE).  These grant awards tallied more than $148,696 of funding for Indian River.

Long-term Needs –

• Apparatus Replacement – given the volume of emergency calls the department handles, it’s necessary to replace emergency apparatus within their 20-year life expectancy period. 

  • In 2021, the department replaced its ladder / aerial truck costing $1,200,000 with additional funding needed for operating equipment and materials with an actual cost of $120,000 - https://irvfc.com/apparatus/detail/42364

The department was utilizing a 2001 Rescue Engine and 2007 Engine which both have surpassed their designated useful frontline service lifespan.  As per the guidelines set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), fire apparatus are typically considered frontline units for a period of 15 years.  The actual cost or projected cost for replacing these units are illustrated below:

• In 2024, the department replaced one of its aging units in the fleet – Engine 80-3, a 2007 Spartan / 4-Guys Custom Pumper was replaced with a 2024 Pierce Saber Custom Pumper with an actual cost of $839,590 for the apparatus with an additional funding need of $83,959 for operating equipment - https://irvfc.com/gallery/detail/51298 .

• In 2025, the department is replacing its oldest apparatus piece – Engine #80-1, a 2001 Spartan / 4-Guys Custom Pumper with a 2025 Pierce Saber Custom Pumper with an actual cost of $914,490 for the apparatus with an additional funding need of $91,449 for operating equipment. Currently on the assembly line with an estimated delivery date in March 2025 - https://irvfc.com/gallery/detail?id=53192

• Pending design and development is a Brush Truck Replacement Initiative that needs to be fulfilled; thereby, replacing a 1999 Ford F350 Utility Body Brush Truck with an estimated cost of $275,000 - https://irvfc.com/apparatus/detail/4609

Maintaining a reliable fleet of apparatus ensures the department can consistently respond to the ever-increasing number of emergency fire and rescue incidents within our fire district.

Facility Renovation / Construction – Long Neck Station

Our highest priority and most critical infrastructure project is the request for renovation and construction to our Long Neck facility - Station 2 off Banks Road.  Our current station dates back to 1973 and considered a major undertaking.  Originally built as a storage facility that has been utilized to subsidize and support the growing demand of our fire district.  This facility currently houses two Class A Pumpers, a brush truck and a marine unit and approximately 50 firefighters operate out of this facility - https://irvfc.com/page/station-two.

Providing strong emergency response services is a top priority for our organization and hope that this Capital Campaign Initiative will help bring the new fire station closer to a reality so that our firefighters and emergency first responders have the equipment and resources that they need to continue to perform their jobs safely and effectively.

This proposed new station will replace the more than 52-year-old existing structure to allow firefighters and company personnel to respond faster and more safely to fire and rescue emergencies in our growing region for decades to come.

The funding need for the new fire station project is $3.5 million with an additional $477,000 associated sitework and improvements necessitated by the regulatory agencies. 

Any financial assistance that you could offer would be greatly appreciation.  Thank you for your consideration.