By Tim Atwood- Fire Chief Weiser Fire District
There has been a lot of misinformation passed around about fire protection in Weiser. It is important that those tasked with making these decisions get accurate and direct information. The decisions made will affect the citizens of Weiser for years to come.
It would take me dozens of pages of text to explain the complexity of running a fire department, but here are a few things to consider:
There are two political divisions in the Weiser Area that are responsible for providing fire protection services. The City of Weiser is responsible for fire protection inside the City Limits of Weiser and its population of about 5600 people. The Weiser City Council oversees this operation, along with numerous other responsibilities required to operate the city and its services. The Weiser Fire District is responsible for providing fire protection for the people and property inside the boundaries of the Fire District. This is an area of approximately 250 square miles with a population of about 2300 people. The Fire District is overseen by an elected board of three members. Their only job as a board member is to manage the Fire District.
Why is it so important for Weise Fire District to update and maintain our fire equipment? The effects of COVID on the supply chain in this country are dramatic. It has forced fire departments to change the way we look at firefighting equipment. The increase in the price, and the availability of equipment has changed the firefighting world. In the last 3 years fire trucks alone have increased by as much as 50%. Delivery times are now 2 to 3 years, instead of 6 months to a year. Much of the equipment we use will have to be replaced at some point and the cost of that equipment is unlikely to ever decrease. Fire trucks wear out and they are costly to maintain. Even the price of used fire trucks has increased dramatically. It is also important to remember, fire departments usually do not sell used fire trucks without a reason. Usually used fire trucks are sold because they have problems and have become unreliable. Older fire trucks can be a bad investment. Parts are not available for a lot of the older trucks. A neighboring fire department recently purchased an older used ladder truck. The fire pump is broken, they have been waiting for months for a small part to be custom manufactured. Because this truck is over 30 years old there is a high likelihood it will fail again, costing tens of thousands of dollars to repair. And because of its age there will always be a concern for how dependable this truck will ever be again.
Fire Departments are controlled by many sets of regulations. One of those is the National Fire Protection Association, or NFPA. NFPA sets standards for everything fire departments do and the equipment we use. Those standards require firefighting equipment to be maintained regularly and tested yearly. This includes fire trucks, hose, breathing apparatus, ladders and more.
What is the ISO rating and why is it important? Another standard we follow is called the “ISO rating”. ISO stands for Insurance Services Office. This rating is a measure of a fire department’s capabilities to deliver dependable service. Insurance companies use that rating to decide what to charge property owners for insurance. In some cases, an insurance company may decide to not offer insurance policies in a certain area if the ISO rating is too high. An ISO rating of 1 is as good as it gets, a 10 means an area has little or no fire protection. Record keeping is essential in maintaining the ISO rating. Fire departments must keep records of equipment maintenance and testing, training records, Fire Code inspections, public education, response times and more. All of these are utilized in the rating system. The City of Weiser has been rated as an ISO 4. We have been working with Idaho Survey and Ratings Bureau to complete an update to the rating. Our goal is to maintain the ISO 4. Currently the ISO rating for the City of Weiser benefits from the equipment owned by the Fire District.
As of July 2022, Weiser Fire District provides fire protection for the City of Weiser through a service contract. This was done to maintain the level of service to both the city and the Fire District while minimizing the increasing costs. This is nothing new, many other cities and districts are working together. There has been some misunderstanding by some when it comes to this service contract. Representatives from the City of Weiser and the Fire District worked together to develop this contract. Given time, this continued cooperative effort will save the citizens of both the City and District millions of dollars. There are no “money bags” here. Both the City of Weiser and the Fire District face significant budget challenges. Under this contract the Fire District is responsible for developing a budget in consultation with the City. However, this is only a budget. That budgeted amount is not necessarily what the City of Weiser pays for fire services. The contract requires the City to pay one-half of the actual monthly operating cost. This number was negotiated after looking at budget formulas used by similar contracts around the state. The most common formula is to compare population, tax assessed values and the fire department call volume of the two. That formula ended up showing the city would pay 54% of the operating costs. The Fire District agreed to accept 50% of the operating costs for the first year. This was in part agreed to because the previous year’s budget would have to be increased to cover those costs. Some of you will ask why would we agree to pay more for fire protection than when the city operated its own fire department? This is because the actual money spent on fire protection in the City of Weiser was not sufficient to maintain equipment, staffing and provide training. The amount spent on fire protection had to increase otherwise the ISO rating would deteriorate causing citizens to pay more for property insurance.
The City’s ISO rating is now supported by the additional equipment owned by the Fire District. By operating together, we can maintain a higher service and the ISO rating with less equipment than if the City of Weiser and the Fire District operated separately.
The Fire Code and its enforcement is important in Weiser. The least expensive way to fight a fire is to prevent it from happening in the first place. This is one of the many reasons we are working on fire code inspections. Fire Code calls for commercial properties to be inspected yearly. We started with what are called “target hazard buildings.” These are commercial properties that have a high risk to human life. Often these are buildings with a large number of people occupying them such as, schools, hospitals, assisted living centers, churches, stores and other public occupancies. Unfortunately, we do not have enough staff to complete an inspection of every commercial property each year. Many insurance companies are requiring a Fire Code inspection as part of the property insurance. If you own a commercial property and your insurer askes for an inspection, contact the Fire District and we will make time to get an inspection done for you.
Hopefully, cooler heads can prevail, and we can continue to operate as one consolidated fire department. The implications of moving backwards would be significant for both the City of Weiser and the Fire District residents.
Respectfully,
Tim Atwood
Fire Chief
Weiser Fire District
