Fire District anticipates new ambulance

POMEROY––Fire District No. 1 will take delivery of its new ambulance on March 22.

The new rig is a 2021 North Star on a 2020 Ford F-450 chassis. Chief James Cleveland and Assistant Chief Kyle Pearson will go to western Washington to take delivery.

In other business from the March 9 Commission meeting, Cleveland advised Commissioners Terry John, Aaron Stallcop and Gary Bowles that State Auditors are working to finish the audit.

According the State Auditor’s Office, the latest information is nothing unexpected, Cleveland said. “The problems that we thought were going to be problems are problems,” he said, “…just a handful of small issues. They’re trying to figure out where it’s going to land and then we’ll do the final closeout on the audit.” The audit’s final meeting will be via Zoom and requires at least one commissioner present. No date is known at this time and if more than one commissioner attends, a special meeting will be announced.

Commissioner Stallcop also asked Cleveland to begin the process of evaluations. “This is not something we’ve ever done,” Stallcop said. “[Starting] just as an open conversation, that’s all, so we can work toward building that professionalism. If we’re going to have full-time employees, then we’re going to have set standards and we need to have tracking.

“I’d like to see the officers evaluate their groups of firefighters,” Stallcop said, advising Cleveland that setting up the process is his responsibility. “I just want to make sure we’re evaluating on a written standard of some kind, and maybe this is a system we need to develop, and we won’t get there this year. I don’t know.”

Cleveland responded that he would develop the process but noted it will take time.

Stallcop explored the possibility of doing evaluation after fire season to gauge performance, or suggested prior to fire season so as to enhance safety.

“I’d like to see evaluations go up and downstream,” Stallcop said, “so you can get some constructive feedback of how your firefighters feel of their officer who’s assigned to them and of the chief if there’s something that we should be all aware of that nobody’s bringing up to us. And also from the top down, if there’s something that we need to have in writing to address maybe a future personnel issue.

“All I wanted to do is throw that out there, for you to guys to think about, maybe bring it up in your officer meeting, to just start the process of thinking about that,” Stallcop said, “because I have no idea where we stand with anything.”

Other items discussed include:

-The District will receive a number of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) on a “semi-permanent loan” from Asotin County Chief Noel Hardin.

-Stallcop asked Cleveland to investigate the internet cost. Once high-speed fiber is installed, Cleveland said he would like to install voice over internet protocol (VOIP) phones. Phone numbers will not change, Cleveland said, it would substantially reduce costs, and give district personnel a better phone system.

The current DSL service is tied to the District’s fax line. Weymouth reported the cost of the fax line and DSL is $127.58, and the main phone line is $137.32 per month.

- Cleveland reported that units have experienced reception problems with the radio repeater. While speaking with Valence representatives, Cleveland asked if they could do the engineering on a simulcast system. “Essentially the simulcast system would allow us to put the radio on Garfield Fire and whatever repeater we were closest to, you wouldn’t have to switch, you wouldn’t have to think about it,” Cleveland said. There are areas in the county where fire units must switch the radio to different repeaters and some work better in certain areas than others, he said.

-Changing the meeting time was discussed and by consensus will remain at 5 p.m.

-Commissioners signed a resolution for disposal of the old ambulance to Lewis Clark State College in exchange for EMT training.

-Live burn training in Lewiston was attended by five firefighters.

-Two members are in the instructor class and EMT students are progressing. Six members completed Advance First Aid. A full Emergency Vehicle Incident Prevention classroom course will be in March with driving course in April.

-Fire District continues to support the COVID vaccination clinic.

-CPR and First Aid has been taught to sheriff and hospital personnel.

-Grant for $22,218.17 received for Assistance to Firefighters will purchase and reimburse PPE costs. Grant submitted to Innovia Foundation has moved to next step. Application on a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant for local access to EMT and AEMT classes over the next four years, and to include a stipend for Firefighter 1 and 2, is being worked on.

-A clean up day will be scheduled in May.

Prior to adjournment, Commissioners went into Executive Session for personnel evaluation.