There are no major obstacles to forming a centralized volunteer fire and rescue department in Whitefield, a citizens’ committee report concludes. However, whether voters will approve the changes in how firefighting services are organized depends on the annual March town meeting outcome.
A public informational hearing on the concept and an ordinance to implement it will be held Sat., Feb. 6 from 10 a.m. to noon at the school. The department would encompass Whitefield Rescue, which provides emergency medical services.
Presently there are three separate volunteer fire associations with stations in Kings Mills, North Whitefield and Coopers Mills. Operating independently, each has its own officers. Job descriptions adopted last year refer to “town fire department” but, according to Selectman Steve McCormick speaking at Monday’s board meeting, currently there is no Whitefield Fire Dept.
The issue has been unsettled over the past 15 years, as the town has crept in tiny steps toward creating a more unified and municipally organized department.
One such step was appointing a townwide fire chief in the 1990s, then a deputy fire chief. However, these officers, while having chain-of-command authority at emergency scenes, “have no authority over the organization, budgets or operations of the three individual associations,” the report says. Annual funds voted at town meeting for each association (last year each received $16,000) “are expended largely as the associations determine.” The town chief manages money appropriated for other fire protection needs.
While the municipal organization “would not necessarily eliminate the associations, (it) would modify their roles,” the report says.
The decision to establish such a department would require adopting a fire department ordinance and voting to accept the assets of the associations by gift, deed or lease. How fires are fought and emergency protection delivered through EMS services wouldn’t change.
Firefighters and rescue personnel, who currently collect a small stipend for every incident they respond to, are volunteer and that status would continue. However, there would be “a single chain of command responsible for all activities and responsibilities, directly answerable to the Selectmen and the voters of Whitefield,” the report states. Equipment and operations, including trucks and buildings, “could be purchased or leased by the town department.”
While not officially recommending the change, the committee found that greater accountability, a greater ability to meet modern standards, better coordination of fire fighting resources “to best meet the needs of the entire town,” and providing for “cohesive budget and Town control on the expenditure of tax dollars” to be persuasive.
It will be up to the private associations to decide whether they’ll make legal changes to their charters.
The committee used National Fire Protection Association standards as guidance in gathering its information, specifically Standard 1720, “Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations and Special Operations to the Public by Volunteer Fire Departments.” The standard is pertinent to Whitefield’s need, the report states, and is included as Appendix C.
The report also emphasizes that deciding to form a municipal fire department is “independent from decisions on construction of new fire stations. Voters should weigh each issue separately since either can go ahead without the other.”
A proposal to build a central fire station, beside the town office, is headed to voters at March town meeting.
The entire report is available online at the official town website: www.townofwhitefield.com. Copies are also available at the town office, and flyers of the executive summary will be posted at various locations, including the North Whitefield Superette. Copies of the report and of the ordinance will be on hand at the public hearing.
Citizens committee members Erik Ekholm, Chuck Vaughan, Frank Ober, Carole Cifrino, Kevin Rousseau and Dennis Merrill met nearly a dozen times, starting last September, with fire association representatives and members of the board of selectmen.
Persons seeking to purchase lots would visit the town office and the cemeteries “to aid them in making a selection,” the proposal reads.
In addition, no lots would be subdivided and no single lot would be sold to joint purchasers.
