Black Forest Fire/Rescue Protection District, May 17 – Directors elected; ambulance sale approved

Directors elected
Board nominates director positions
Surplus ambulance sale approved
Mass casualty incident drill
Financial report
Wildland deployment reimbursements
Department report
Operations update
Training update

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Black Forest Fire Rescue Protection District (BFFRPD) meeting on May 17, the board elected two directors, approved the sale of a surplus ambulance, and heard about a mass casualty incident (MCI) drill and the development of a regional training consortium.

Directors elected

Chairman Nate Dowden administered the oath of office to re-elected directors Vice Chairman James Abendschan and Treasurer Jack Hinton. Both directors were elected by decree and the May 2 election was canceled.

Board nominates director positions

Board Secretary Donna Arkowski said that officially, the board needed to nominate board positions.

The following directors were unanimously nominated: Dowden—chair, Kiersten Tarvainen—vice chair, and Hinton—treasurer.

Surplus ambulance sale approved

Deputy Chief of Operations Chris Piepenburg said Peyton Fire Protection District (PFPD) was interested in purchasing the surplus 2007 ambulance for $5,000. The ambulance had about 285,000 miles less than the existing ambulance in service at PFPD, he said.

Hinton said the 2007 ambulance had been donated to Palmer Lake Fire Department in September 2020, but it was returned to the district. It is good to help neighbors, said Hinton. See www.ocn.me/v20n10.htm#bffrpd.

The board unanimously approved the sale.

Gary Nelson, president of Emergency Incident Support (EIS), said the nonprofit organization he leads would have thankfully received the ambulance as a donation if PFPD had not been interested.

Mass casualty incident drill

Dowden asked if a regional MCI training event was scheduled.

Piepenburg said the district was involved with active-shooter refresher training taking place that week with Monument Fire District, Monument Police Department, Palmer Lake Police Department and El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. The district had attended previous events and will also participate in a large-scale MCI drill in June, involving multiple agencies region-wide to include area hospitals. The regional drill was developed by EMS Battalion Chief Sean Pearson and EMS Coordinator Stephanie Soll of MFD, he said. See MFD article on page < 17 >.

Nelson thanked the board for the great work they do and said EIS will support the MCI with logistics, catering, and rehab support. The group’s 35 volunteers will act as mass casualties. The MCI regional drill will be held at Don Breese Stadium at Lewis-Palmer High School, Monument, from June 12 to 16, he said.

Financial report

Hinton said as of April 30, the district had about $3.5 million in total assets, and that includes $1.3 million for General Operations and the reserve funds:

Money market deposit account, $137,235.
Emergency reserves fund, $236,751.
Capital improvement fund, $193,803.
TABOR reserve fund, $137,400.

The district received $471,744 in property and specific ownership taxes, and about $6,044 in ambulance revenue. The 2022 Pierce Enforcer 4395 has a loan for $356,731 and is shown in the total assets for the district. The true district assets are shown in the 2021 audit conducted in 2022. The district has spent about 31% of the predicted annual budget year to date, about 2% less than anticipated, he said.

The board unanimously accepted the financial report as presented.

Wildland deployment reimbursements

Hinton requested Administrative Officer Rachel Dunn record the wildland deployment reimbursements received and the month the deployments occurred on the balance sheet. He explained the deployment line on the balance versus actuals sheet now lists deployments separately to show net income or losses. The precise breakout will provide a true depiction of how much the district makes or loses on deployments. State wildland fire deployment payments can take about six months to receive, and Federal Emergency Management Agency payments could take up to a year. The district had yet to receive payment of $45,128 for the last deployment, he said.

Dowden requested a better breakout on the balance sheet because the $380,060 listed on the balance sheet as receivable income was for deployments billed last year that had not been received.

Piepenburg said it is unfortunate the billing process for wildland deployments is not easy. The bills are loaded into the system and sent to a reviewer and turned around in 30 days. If the reviewer does not send the bill back for correction, the correction is made by the district before being resubmitted to another reviewer. The return process can happen again after being reviewed by another agency. If the process proceeds without delays, it can take just 30 days, he said.

Dunn said billing is usually submitted within 7-14 days, but typically 90% of the bills are returned due to incorrect Government Services Administration rates (per diem reimbursement rates). The deploying crews are required to have a resource order before responding to a fire. The coding process is the last step in the process and involves clarification from the agency responsible for fighting the fire. The bills can be returned at any phase in the process, but once accepted by the state, payment is usually received in 14 days, she said.

Dowden said the reimbursement process is a laborious paper chase.

Hinton thanked Dunn and said the breakout on the balance sheet will allow careful monitoring of deployment reimbursements, help the board make educated funding decisions, and assist with budget planning. The wildland deployment reimbursements are negative year to date, he said.

If the district submits the bills on time, it will not be cut off, and eventually it will receive payment, said Piepenburg.

Department report

Dunn said the following:

The 2005 mid-mount ariel ladder truck was received April 28 and is housed in the bay at Station 1.
The district received new uniforms.
Students at “The School in the Woods” received wildfire education.
Remodeling work continued in the training room.

Operations update

Piepenburg said the district responded to 10 fire-related calls and 53 Emergency Medical Service (EMS) calls in April. The district assisted Falcon Fire Protection District with a residential structure fire in Falcon and extinguished a small RV fire within the district. In April, the district deployed two crews to the Gageby Creek Fire, Las Animas/Bent County, for 72 hours with a Type 3 and 6 apparatus. A crew also assisted with the Rampart Range Fire, Teller County, for 24 hours in April, he said.

Training update

Piepenburg said staff had completed a combined total of about 1,281 training hours in April:

Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) Fire Academy attended Live Fire behavior training in April at the district training center, and the students were scheduled to return for additional training May 20-21 and again for two days in June before graduation.
Staff completed the ongoing monthly North Group EMS Airway training with Centura Health and MFD EMS staff.
MFD worked on second-floor Live Fire training for three days.
The district is joining a regional training consortium with MFD, CSFD, and possibly Fort Carson Fire Department in the future. The consortium is a path to training and working together more often, with similar training structures and mind set. The district regularly trains with MFD.

Hinton asked if districts with similar terrain and vegetation are taken into consideration when choosing training partners and if line staff also deploy to gain experience.

Piepenburg said the district does not pay too much attention to terrain, but more so structural and EMS training with regional partners. The district usually selects one large wildland training event in the spring with CSFD and MFD. The wildland techs hired to fill the deployment roster are the first to deploy with a Type 3 engine, but the line staff that want to deploy to gain experience take a Type 6 brush truck, he said.

The meeting adjourned at 7:41 p.m.

**********

Meetings are usually held on the third Wednesday of the month at Station 1, 11445 Teachout Road, Colorado Springs. Meetings are open to the public in person or via Zoom. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 21 at 7 p.m. For joining instructions, updates, agendas, minutes, and reports, visit www.bffire.org or contact Director of Public Relations Brooke Reid at admin@bffire.org or call 719-495-4300.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.