The Anchorage Fire Department is losing the funding for the firefighting helicopter that it has been using for the last four years. The grant that had been financing the helicopter is expiring and unless they can obtain new funding from the state of Alaska or another grant, they will not have the use of the helicopter this summer.
Anchorage Fire Department helicopter. KTUU photo
Colorado Springs can no longer afford to operate their two OH-58C military surplus police department helicopters which were sometimes used on wildfires. They are trying to sell them on the Internet. The minimum auction bid on one of them for $170,000 has been met.
Colorado Springs helicopter
Colorado Springs has some very serious budget problems. They are laying off three firefighters, as well as the police officers and a mechanic that were assigned to the helicopters. The city is turning off one-third of its street lights in order to save $1.2 million in energy and bulb replacement.
UPDATE March 24, 2010:
Colorado Springs sold both helicopters. Here is an article from KKTV dated yesterday:
A bidder from North Dakota has purchased a Colorado Springs Police helicopter that was auctioned off on-line after the city came up short of funds to keep the police choppers in the air.
Michael Kratz bought the helicopter for just over $179,000, That’s $20,000 more than the opening bid. The two helicopters were military surplus and given to the city but the city had to ground the choppers to make up for a budget shortfall.
The first helicopter, a 1968 Bell OH58-C, sold for $170,000 in late February, the second was a 1970 model of the same helicopter.
The sale of the helicopters was handled by City Utilities, that department is responsible for disposing of surplus property.
Colorado Springs is attempting to sell FEPP (Federal Excess Property Program) acquired helicopters? If they indeed acquired these helicopters under FEPP, I am hoping they are communicating with the Forest Service FEPP Manager for Region 2. Usually, FEPP cannot be resold, but must be destroyed or transferred to another user.
Don’t want to get into the mess that happened in SoCal years ago… (Ref. HVFS and T&G, et al)when surplus military equipment was wrongly sold for profit.
If they’re using FEPP for primarily law enforcement with a secondary fire mission, they’re probably already out of compliance, so likely they were obtained through other military surplus channels. There’s a similar program where law enforcement can take ownership of fed surplus, so likely obtained through that system.
Forest Service FEPP:
http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/partners/fepp/
DOJ – BJA FEPP:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/fedsurp_transfer.html
USE RESTRICTION Perpetual Use: Applicant understands that the Property transfer is pursuant to Section 553(b)(1)(2) and/or (3) of Title 40, United States Code, and agrees that the Property will be used and maintained for correctional facility use, emergency management and/or law enforcement purposes in perpetuity and that in the event the Property ceases to be used or maintained for the purposes for which the Property was conveyed, all or any portion of the Property shall in its then existing condition at the option of the Grantor, revert to the Grantor.