Resources
Practical guides for capital planning and funding.
Written for fire chiefs and officers, not marketers -- capital planning, apparatus and PPE replacement, federal grants, ISO/PPC, staffing, municipal budgeting, and how to present a plan to your board or council.
Capital Planning
How to build a fire department capital plan
A practical starting point for organizing apparatus, equipment, and facility needs into a real, multi-year plan.
Capital Planning
Apparatus replacement planning: when to start
Waiting until an apparatus fails is the most expensive way to plan a replacement. Here's a more realistic timeline.
Funding
A practical guide to federal fire-service grant programs
What AFG, SAFER, and FP&S actually fund, and how they fit into a department's broader funding strategy.
Capital Planning
ISO/PPC and why it matters beyond your insurance rates
ISO/PPC most often comes up in conversations about insurance — but the underlying data is also a capital-planning asset.
Leadership Reporting
How to present a capital plan to your board or council
The difference between a capital plan that gets funded and one that gets tabled is usually how it's presented, not what's in it.
Staffing
Where staffing fits into a capital budget conversation
Staffing is usually an operating-budget line item, not a capital one — but the two are more connected than most budget documents show.
Equipment
SCBA and PPE replacement: planning for a cost that never stops recurring
Unlike an apparatus, SCBA and turnout gear don't last decades — and that recurring cost needs its own place in a capital plan.
Leadership Reporting
How a fire department's capital request fits into the municipal budget cycle
The municipal budget cycle has its own calendar, vocabulary, and decision points — understanding them changes how a capital request should be timed and framed.