The Falcon Fire Protection District held a meeting in June with all members present; the following issues were discussed.False alarm concernsDirector Dan Kupferer addressed the amount of false alarms the district receives. Kupferer said he is concerned that responding to false alarms takes manpower away from legitimate calls. With the amount of new businesses that require alarm systems, Kupferer said the occurrence of false alarms could increase.One audience member asked about the current policy and suggested charging a fee to discourage false alarms. Chief Trent Harwig said the national average of false alarms is about 10 percent, and FFPD experiences about the same amount. He said charging a fee probably won’t boost the budget, but it could prompt business owners to change their policies regarding their alarm systems.”I want to see the trend over the last several years to see if it’s really increasing to decide on establishing a policy to mitigate costs or at least the cost of fuel (to respond to false alarms),” Kupferer said.District sub-zonesThe board also discussed setting goals for response times within each district. Secretary Casey Shifflet said to do so they would have to create multiple sub-zones within each district, while setting a goal of meeting the average response times 90 percent of the time. The information provided could dictate future staffing patterns, Shifflet said. Harwig suggested that the board review their current average response-time figures. “What people don’t realize is that we have to have two people per apparatus,” he said. “We do move teams to different stations to help staff and cover areas during calls.”Acting officer payHarwig introduced a proposal to increase the pay for firefighters in advanced positions serving in temporary but indefinite jobs because of illness or vacation.The board agreed to Harwig’s proposal, with conditions. He must seek the recommendations of the three battalion chiefs, and the pay increase must be 5 percent less than the district would pay for someone filling the position permanently. The board also said the pay raise did not guarantee the temporary person would be hired permanently.Volunteer programHarwig said the volunteer program has a few changes in the works. The FFPD will now require that volunteers respond to a certain amount of calls per month rather than an annual percentage. Also, Harwig said after a certain number of years the volunteers can become partially or fully vested in the retirement plan. The board will discuss the details at the pension board meeting in August.The board also talked about organizing an association for current and former FFPD members to foster camaraderie between the two groups.
