The Falcon Fire Protection District held its regular monthly board meeting Nov. 18. All board members were present, except for Joan Hathcock, who had an excused absence. Director Kelly Starkman submitted a letter of resignation and did not attend the meeting. Attorney Richard Shearer, legal counsel for the district, was present.Treasurerís reportFire Chief Trent Harwig reported that the fiscal year was 83 percent complete as of Oct. 31. The district collected 99 percent of its anticipated revenue, and general fund expenditures were at 75 percent. Harwig said that year-to-date expenses for legal fees and notices year-to-date were about $17,000, which is the lowest amount spent on attorneysí fees since 2002.Board president Dan Kupferer recommended that the Falcon and Peyton fire districts formalize an agreement regarding current and future use of the cistern at Apex Ranch, which is located on the border between the Falcon and Peyton fire districts. The two agencies have informally agreed to joint usage of this water resource, with FFPD expending funds to improve the cisternís usability by both fire departments.Chiefís reportHarwig reported that FFPD responded to 189 calls for service in October, bringing the year-to-date total to 1,647 alarms.Harwig noted that FFPD District 4, where the new fire station is planned, had a total of 48 incidents in October (32 plus an additional 16 covered by the Colorado Springs Fire Department under a memorandum of understanding). FFPD District 3, which typically has the second-highest call volume, had 42 incidents.Based on figures provided by the county, Harwig said FFPD receives about $46,000 per year in taxes from properties located within the Colorado Springs city limits. He said the city intends to ìclean upî properties currently taxed by both the city and local fire districts so those residents only pay for city fire protection, but he doesnít know when that will happen.Attorneyís reportAttorney Richard Shearer said that the Peyton Fire District rewrote their original agreement for storing a water tender in FFPD Station 6 for the winter. The revised agreement has been reviewed and will be signed. The board will ratify it at the December meeting.Pension boardThe volunteer pension board will meet only twice in 2016 instead of quarterly. These meetings will be held during the regular FFPD board meetings in May and November.The board voted to approve an increase in monthly benefits for fully vested members, from $460 to $500. The actuarial study conducted this year showed the pension fund was sound enough to sustain the increase.The Fire and Police Pension Association offered two options to rectify a disability overpayment to a former volunteer: stop payments to the member for 22 months or ask the member to repay the entire sum. The pension board voted for the 22-month stop payment option.Harwig reported that the pension plan did fairly well in the first and second quarters, but lost those gains in the third quarter for about a 3 percent loss on the year.Community Wildfire Protection PlanKeith Worley, a forestry consultant hired by the FFPD board to draft a CWPP for the district, provided an overview of the draft plan.Worley emphasized that the CWPP is not a regulatory document. Rather, it is intended to be a guide and a planning document to improve mitigation and wildfire preparedness.Among the topics covered by the CWPP:
- Identification of firefighter safety zones, staging areas and evacuation routes
- Identification of critical roadways and intersections that can become congested during a large-scale evacuation
- Mapping of fuel types, vegetation and topography in the fire district
- Defensible space and ignition zones
- Wildfire rate of spread maps and hazard maps for properties in both forested and grassland areas
- Recommendations for both homeowners and the fire district
