Fire and Rescue District Meeting: Expect Budget Work, Organizational Contracts

Thursday, Oct. 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the Eastsound Fire Hall

–by Margie Doyle —

Contract for permanent Fire Chief and and OIFR organizational structure may be the highlights of the regular Fire Commissioners’ meeting this Thursday, but acting Chief Mik Preysz says the focus of this fall’s work is in constructing the 2016 budget.

The draft capital budget for 2016 was presented at the Sept. 17 Fire Commissioners meeting; and the initial draft of the operational budget was presented at the Special Meeting on Monday October 5. From that meeting, corrections were made to the 2016 Draft Budget which will be presented in the upcoming Oct. 15 meeting. A public meeting on the budget is scheduled for Nov. 9, and the 2016 budget is scheduled for approval at the Nov. 19 Fire Commissioners’ meeting.

Budget considerations reflect the increases in community health care, most prominently the increase in emergency medical calls and needed services. While emergency calls are up (25% call volume increase over the summer compared to last year), Preysz is pleased to report “an extremely good summer in terms of fires. There were only a few incidents where the burn ban was not observed and even fewer accidental fires thanks to our communities and visitors diligence. Now we’re encouraging people to check their chimneys and smoke alarms and make sure they are in good working order.”

This year, there has also been a “spur” of 22 recruits, who are now able to respond. Some are going to the Fire Academy and others entering the EMT class. Now the Orcas Fire and Rescue Department has 79 volunteer responders, and every station on the island has a minimum of six firefighters. This allows the Orcas district to qualify for an Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating of 6 with the Washington Ratings Bureau (used by insurance companies to set rates), which in turn boils down to a 30% to 50% savings per Orcas households’ in insurance rates over an ISO rating of 9. By having the community step up and volunteer in the outlying stations, OIFR is able to retain the ISO rating of 6.

The district now has no assistant chief, and as the system is re-organized, the four Battalion Chiefs, the Chief and the Paramedic are doing significantly more to assist with the administration of a department that has nearly 100 members of which 90% are volunteers. Still, Preysz says, “seldom do we not have a second medic available for calls.”

Renewal of the contract with Dr. Michael Sullivan as the District’s Chief Medical Officer will also be reviewed at this meeting.

In other developments this fall, the Deer Harbor Fire Station now has 14 designated parking spaces, so that the meeting room can now accommodate up to 21 people, and be used by the community for gatherings.

Those who would like to avail themselves of the printed materials before the meeting should go to the Fire District website, www.orcasfire.org and download meeting materials in advance.  Those who’d like the agenda and documentation printed out for the meeting should email their requests to info@orcasfire.org Chief Preysz said that by cutting down on printing costs, he expects to save the District $2,000 to $3,000 a year. He also said that the plan is for the Commissioners to use ipads at meetings, and “go electronic.”