New Richmond Fire-EMS & Police LEVY INFORMATION PAGE   

2023 Fire Department Update

           

Dear Council and Mayor,

 

You have asked for a department update on where we would like to be in the future with pay, equipment, and, most importantly, buildings. Why do most of you know that we (FD) run out of two different buildings? Our average response time for a fire call is Six to Seven minutes. Now that isn’t from the time, we leave to the time we arrive on scene it’s the time it takes from us to get from one building, get our gear on, get into the apparatus, and go en route. Our department relies heavily on our volunteer personnel for our fire calls. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do the job.

 

I am proposing this to you as council and mayor. I would like to see a pay increase for the fire department. I would like to see a $2.00 per hour increase across the board. This would bring our salaries to a comparable rate for the surrounding area. While I would love to see more for them at this time, I do not feel like this is a good time to ask for it as we need more money allocated elsewhere also.

 

If we could find a way to get into a new building, that would cut our response time down to less than half. A fire doubles in size every minute. So, with our response time now at the six-to-seven-minute mark, that means the fire is 12-14% larger when we arrive on scene. I do not have an updated cost on this I still have the original plans for the one we got quotes on previously. The upcoming building maintenance for Hamilton Street is the following, carpet, kitchen overhaul, concrete driveway aprons, deck roof, and bathroom overhauls. The Market St building maintenance is the following, carpet in the meeting room and office, new bay doors, concrete driveway aprons, new parking lot, new windows, Entry man doors, new roof, and interior man doors. I will attach the breakdown on these and the life expectancy.

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Vehicles, Ambulances, Fire Apparatus’. As you guys are aware, the old Chief vehicle the Durango, is not running and is in no shape to put money into. It was due for replacement in 2018. I have given you all the quotes for this vehicle replacement. Quint 36 (ladder truck) is due for refurbishment in 2028, Engine 36 is due for replacement in 2023, and One of our Ambulance is due for replacement in 2027. these are our most expensive replacements currently. All other vehicles are slated for replacement between 2031-2038. While we strive to keep our fleet maintained and well taken care of, we do see some maintenance issues from time to time due to our fleet being an older fleet.

 

Equipment, our biggest cost that we will see this year is our mobile radios. We are slated to lose 15 radios due to the age of them and not being able to install the latest radio frequency/flashing. Next on the list will be our AEDs slated for A 2026 replacement, then 10 sets of fire gear that will expire in 2028. I will also attach an excel with the remaining replacement equipment. We have applied for the grant assistance for the new Fire Truck, We are also working on a grant for some help with the cost of extra training devices.

 

Thank you for your time and consideration of these proposals. I believe they are necessary to improve our department's response time, ensure the safety of our community, and provide a better quality of life for our firefighters.