FFPD June meeting
By Jon Huang
The Falcon Fire Protection District held its monthly board meeting June 16 at the Falcon Fire Administration Building on 7030 Old Meridian Road. Joan Fritsche, attorney; Tom Kerby, vice president; Ray Hawkins, treasurer; James Reid, president; Steve Podoll, secretary; Trent Harwig, chief, attended. Dan Kupferer, assistant secretary, was excused.
May minutes
The board unanimously approved May minutes.
Treasurer’s report
Harwig presented the numbers through May 2025, representing 41.7% of the fiscal year.
The general fund was at 59% of anticipated revenues. Total expenses were at 42% of expected.
The ambulance transport fund was at 44% of the expected revenues. Total expenses were at 40% of expected.
The capital project fund had received 50% of expected revenues. Total expenses were at 17% of expected.
The rural water fund had no new activity.
The board unanimously passed the report.
Staff reports
Deputy Chief Jeff Petersma presented the operations report.
There were 324 total calls in April and 1,424 for the year, with 1,135 belonging to the district. Average response times across all districts for March remained stable. There was a total of 430 calls for mutual aid and automatic aid in 2024.
EMS Chief Jon Webb presented the emergency medical services report.
There were 174 transports in May, with an average cash per trip of $567.94. Year-to-date showed 754 transports and a cash per trip of $727.95. The 24-month average was $647.31 cash per trip. With the supplemental Medicaid reimbursement, the cash per trip was $817.58. The six-month average of payer distributions showed that 42% of payers came from Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans; 18% came from Medicaid and 17% came from private insurance.
Lt. Curtis Kauffman presented the fire prevention report. In May, there were 20 building inspections, two fire finals, one underground hydro test and seven Electronic Development Application Reviews. He did not keep tally of follow-up inspections this past month.
Kauffman said the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department stated that they would not be involved in enforcing the new state-sanctioned Wildfire Resiliency Code because it is a fire code, not a building code, which would shift the responsibility to the fire districts. Reid said this was best done by the county, given their pre-existing involvement with the building approval process, instead of delegating this responsibility to all the separate fire districts. It would ultimately be the more sensible thing to do in the long run. Kauffman said he would bring this up with the El Paso County Fire Marshals Committee. He also tentatively planned to present the 2021 International Fire Code and Amendments for the county commissioners’ approval by March 2026.
The next meeting is July 16.
Stay connected with the Falcon Fire Protection District
- Website: http://www.falconfirepd.org
- Facebook: Falcon Fire Department
- Twitter: @FalconFireDept
- NextDoor.com
