FFPD January board meeting

The Falcon Fire Protection District held its regular board meeting Jan. 16. All board members were present except for Henry Allen, who was out of town.Board vacancyThe board is accepting letters of interest for the vacant board director seat. Letters must be received by the district administration at 7030 Old Meridian Road in Falcon no later than Feb. 15. The board meets the third Wednesday of each month at 4 p.m. Interested citizens should be available for interviews at the Feb. 20 board meeting. For additional information, contact FFPD Chief Trent Harwig at 495-4050. Treasurer’s reportWith 100 percent of budget year 2012 complete, revenues exceeded budgeted amounts by 5 percent, while overall budgeted expenditures were 2 percent under budget. The increased revenues resulted from reimbursement for deployment to the Waldo Canyon fire; grant monies; income from the special ownership tax; Rural Water Fund revenue; and the sale of a brush truck.Chief’s reportTraining:

• Lt. David Smith has reached the end of his rotation and will be replaced in the training division by Lt. Sean Tafoya. Smith thanked the board and district for giving him the opportunity to work in the training division, and also thanked his family for their support during his assignment. ìGetting to work side by side with all shifts, reservists and administration has been very exciting, humbling, fun and very dynamic,î he said.
• The Driver/Operator certification program is in progress. A comprehensive Driver/Operator training manual was developed by Division of Training Chief Glenn Levy and firefighter Nick Koory.
• Ice rescue equipment (two suits and two sleds) has been received. Smith will attend an ice rescue train-the-trainer class in February and bring the information back to the district. Levy called ice rescue in the district “very low frequency (but) very high risk.” There are about 20 water hazards in the district. The most common call is for animals on the ice, but humans will often put themselves in danger by trying to rescue those animals.
• Levy will work full time starting April 1. One of his major projects will be a company officer development program.

Fire prevention:

• A plan was received for new construction of a cell phone retail store near Wal-Mart.
• Plans were processed for a 17-lot development in Paintbrush Hills and a 4,000-square-foot hangar at the airport.
• FFPD has hosted two community meetings, one station tour; presented programs three times to second-graders; and completed one CPR class.
• Work continues on the hydrant and incident pre-planning programs.

Emergency responses:

• FFPD responded to 1,825 calls in 2012, an increase of 127 over 2011, which is the highest call volume ever.District 1 has the highest call volume, followed by districts 3, 4, 2, 6, and 5.
• The district has accumulated about five years of computerized response data, which will help identify trends in call types and volumes.

2009 International Fire CodeThe Housing and Building Association provided comments to FFPD’s August 2012 comments on amendments to the code. The HBA disagreed on many amendments to the proposed fire code but left them as written. Another meeting will be scheduled with HBA to discuss their comments and concerns.Fire flow requirements and water supplyDirector Dan Kupferer and Harwig met with the county attorney, a county land development code official and the HBA to address the ongoing situation with fire flow code enforcement on individual properties in subdivisions or areas that lack water resources for firefighting.FFPD requests that new construction, regardless of the age of the subdivision or lot, meet minimum fire flow requirements as allowed by code. FFPD has determined it can provide fire flow of 500 gallons per minute. When the size of a structure exceeds that ability, the difference must be covered through the installation of a cistern or sprinkler system or by voluntary participation in the Rural Water Fund.The land development code requires water supply for firefighting. If water supply is not provided during the development of a subdivision in the district, FFPD does not have any influence until plans are submitted for construction. Meeting fire flow requirements then becomes an issue for the builder.FFPD will continue to enforce fire flow requirements for individual properties.Health and wellness committeeThe health and wellness committee will convene once a new director has been appointed.Spirit Lakesí dry hydrantDick Stuart presented the pros and cons of a dry hydrant to the Spirit Lakes Homeowners Association. The information was seemingly well-received by residents, who were concerned that fire apparatus could drain the pond and kill aquatic life. New HOA president Ken Carroll said the HOA would like to pursue installation of the dry hydrant if FFPD feels it would be a good asset to the district and funding is available. HOA members have requested to vote on final approval.The FFPD board asked for a letter of intent from the Spirit Lakes HOA offering the use of the pond as a water supply if the engineering confirms it can be used for that purpose.Station 2 cell phone towerCell tower for station No. 2 went through planning. There could be potential opposition from a resident who lives nearby.Fire marshalA job description for a fire marshal position was provided to the board for review. The target date for the new position to become effective is April 1.