1. Generator service contracts: the fire district is committed to installing generators in each firehouse - and they all come with a heavy (but worth it) price tag. We really should be focused on protecting these investiments by getting annual service contracts. Furthermore, as emergency generators - we should really be ensuring that they are maintained so that they do work when they are needed. We discussed this idea in yesterday's workshop, so I will know more about costs in the following week or so.
2. Maintenance Personnel: some Commissioners have suggested that we get a maintenance person(s) and have them available to fix the variety of maintenance issues that we have in the district. Certainly that as these buildings age and get used more frequently, they will require more maintenance to maintain them - that's not a far fetched concept to grasp. I don't however see this coming with a small price tag, so its something that we will have to balance
3. Access System Finalization: part of the access system initiative this year was to continue with installing interior doors at various locations throughout the fire district facilities and to enable the system for remote configuration (via internet). Next year should mark the last of the installs - hopefully completing the access system initiative. In addition, there have been some suggestions of hooking the system to our siren/pagers to have it automatically unlock doors when we get a call, etc. This has already been discussed with the security company, and its a very inexpensive option that I believe we should explore.
4. Equipment Reserve Savings: it's clear that the ladder situation is indeed an important one to the fire district, and a costly one to the taxpayers. We have already seen that had we purchased the trucks two years ago - we would have saved over $100,000, but that is water under the bridge. The Board is now looking at consultants to determine what our ladder truck requirements actually are, and so I'll speak more about that when their report is finalized. That being said, we know that the cost to purchase a new ladder is going to be substantial, so we should try and shift as much money as possible into the Equipment Reserve in preparation for this purchase.
5. Software Initiative: we are currently evaluating software to streamline ALL of the paperwork processes in the GFD, something that will save our personnel and firefighters countless hours. Depending on where this evaluation goes will determine additional costs, so in the next couple of months I'll know more about what will be required for this initiative - but this is a very important initiative (and one long time coming).

What I wish people knew about EMS, Firefighters, Dispatchers, & Law Enforcement.

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children at 3 AM, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns.

I wish you could comprehend a husband's horror at 6 in the morning as I check his wife of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start CPR anyway, hoping to bring her back, knowing intuitively it is too late. But wanting her husband and family to know everything possible was done to try to save her life.

I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being able to see absolutely nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've become too familiar with.

I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a building fire "Is this a false alarm or a working fire? How is the building Constructed? What hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?" Or to call, "What is wrong with the patient? Is it minor or life-threatening? Is the caller really in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun?"

I wish you could be in the emergency room as a doctor pronounces dead the beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the past 25 minutes, who will never go on her first date or say the words, "I love you Mommy" again.

I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the engine or unit the driver with his foot pressing down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again and again at the air horn chain, as you fail to yield the right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic. When you need us however, your first comment upon our arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!"

I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage years from the remains of her automobile. "What if this was my daughter, sister, my girlfriend or a friend? What is her parent's reaction going to be when they open the door to find a police officer with hat in hand?"

I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and greet my parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did not come back from the last call.

I wish you could know how it feels dispatching officers, firefighters and EMT's out and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one answers back or to here a bone chilling 911 call of a child or wife needing assistance.

I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally, and sometimes physically, abuse us or belittle what I do, or as they express their attitudes of "It will never happen to me."

I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain or missed meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in addition to all the tragedy my eyes have seen.

I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in time of crisis, or creating order from total chaos.

I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy tugging at your arm and asking, "Is Mommy okay?" Not even being able to look in his eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say.

Or to have to hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having CPR done on him as you take him away in the Medic Unit. You know all along he did not have his seat belt on. A sensation that I have become too familiar with.

Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really means to us...

I wish you could though.

1. "I know that this fire district currently has zero debt - no bonds, no leases. I would hate to see this district start down that trend; there is no question that these trucks aren't needed - I personally believe there is a clear need for them, but I do not see how you can justify putting this district down the 'wrong side' of the road by borrowing money to acquire these trucks."
   
   I share this exact concern - I agree with it one hundred percent. In fact, the Greenfield Fire District is one of the only fire districts in the state that is debt free. This is becoming more and more of a rarity this day and age. From a fiscally responsible point of view, I love the concept of being debt free.
   
   That being said however, I strongly believe that buying these trucks now, rather than later, will SAVE TAXPAYER MONEY, and that borrowing the money to buy them - while incurring a small amount of debt - is FAR superior of a choice compared to waiting and saving up the money, and buying the trucks at a later date.
   
   In 2001, a quote for a ladder truck was in the neighborhood of $600,000. As of this month, the district received a quote for $800,000 for the ladder truck to replace the current one housed in the Maple Avenue Fire Department. That works out to be approximately $40,000 per year. If it takes another four years to save up money to buy the replacement for Maple Avenue's, and then another three/four years after that to buy Greenfield Center a ladder truck - then you are looking at around 12 years of savings - meaning that you could expect to pay approximately $500,000 more than their current prices.
   
   And that's not counting the additional costs of the 2007 EPA requirements and the costly repairs that need to go into Maple Avenue's truck to keep it in-service while we save up the money.
   
   We can side-step all of these three sizeable costs by being proactive and purchasing these trucks now - it will save money in the long term.
2. "How many times do these specialty pieces get used - if not that often, I don't understand why you need new ones?"
   
   While its true that the Greenfield Fire District doesn't have many fires per year (this is a trend consistent across the nation not just Greenfield Fire District), it only takes one fire (and the district has a lot more than one a year) for someone to get hurt - or worse yet, killed.
   
   As an elected official, I can tell you with supreme confidence that I hope these and all the current trucks NEVER get used. If they do get used, that means they are being dispatched to an emergency - which means that someone might lose their home, their property, their livelihood, pets or worse yet - loved ones. That is not something that any volunteer in the Greenfield Fire District wants to see happen.
   
   So to me it's not a relevant question as to how often these trucks are used - I think it's more relevant to look at them as an "insurance policy" analogy. As another Commissioner suggested to me, you can view these ladder trucks from the same perspective as most people view health insurance. Health insurance is becoming more and more costly, and people don't like to pay for it. The first time however that you have a serious medical situation; you will be thanking yourself many times for having health insurance in place.
   
   The same can be said about these ladder trucks, you hope you never have to use them (and the same goes for every other truck in the Greenfield Fire District) - but that one time when you need to, you are going to be very glad that you have them protecting you.
   
   I also feel the need to point out the entire focus on finances here - and I agree that finances are a very important concern surrounding this initiative, but there are many other significant issues that I do not want to be dwarfed by focusing on the financial side.
   
   There are many issues, that I refer to as "intangibles," that you can't quite quantify with numbers - and those are the safety concerns of operating equipment we know is in danger of failing, and also the performance expectations we place on these trucks.
   
   When we place three firefighters 100 feet into the air, the last thing that we want is for there to be a problem with the truck that could put our firefighters safety in jeopardy.
   
   Additionally, we expect these trucks to perform the way they are designed and anticipated to perform at a moment's notice. Many devastating scenarios can be envisioned where a ladder trucks shows up to a fire - and then breaks down completely, effectively providing no fire suppression. These are two examples that no one wants to see become a reality and are both reasons enough to replace the current ladder truck at Maple Avenue and acquire a new ladder truck for Greenfield Center.
3. "I thought everything was financially fine and now I hear that the district had a lack of planning over the years and now has major financial hurdles to address. If the board made these fiscal oversights and, as a result, now has these numerous financial challenges, what provisions is the board currently taking to plan for the future and address them?"
   
   First and foremost, I want to make it very clear that my predecessors were negligent in forecasting the replacement of Maple Avenue's ladder (and thus did not budget to do so), that does NOT imply that the Board is not conscious of the financial hurdles and is not taking steps now to correct them - that's what this ladder initiative is all about!
   
   One of the reasons the Board is endorsing this initiative is because by being proactive, we can save money, and allow us to address other financial hurdles:
   • In Spring of 2006, the Board of Fire Commissioners hired an engineering firm to survey the Porter Corners fire station. Initial reports suggest that one side of the foundation is sinking. The floor has been jacked and leveled twice since it was built 16 years ago - so the initial report does correlate with previous repairs.
     
     The current Porter Corners station life expectancy is 20 - 30 years, which means that in another four years - it could be coming up on its life expectancy. Obviously the cost of replacing the station depends on many factors - but to help judge we can look at the latest fire station to be built in the county. The Arvin Hart fire station was built this year and has a similar square footage to Porter Corners. According to the Stillwater website, their station cost 2.1 million dollars.
     
     Obviously a cost of that magnitude needs to planned for, and in order to minimize the impact to the taxpayers, we need to start saving up for that expense now.
   • Part of the engineering survey also included the improperly designed Greenfield Center's roof. Part of the initial solutions involve replacing the roof with a new pitch - this could cost in the neighborhood of $200,000 - so this too must be planned financially.
4. "I believe that everything is growing out of control, last year your district got a pension plan, now you are going out to buy ladder trucks - it seems to me that you should be looking at consolidating firehouses, perhaps closing one of them to save costs. Additionally, I have a concern that you are growing out of control - if you look at what is going on in Wilton and Corinth - those firehouses are gigantic slap-in-the-face's to the taxpayers; and I do not want to see that happen here."
   
   Every Commissioner that sits on the Board is a taxpayer - and each Commissioner knows all too well the concerns about taxes - and share many concerns raised regarding the tax rate. However, I strongly believe that the budget is BY NO MEANS out of control.
   
   The data provided by the county includes the tax rate and budgets for all the fire districts in Saratoga County - as you'll see, our budget and tax rates are on par with comparable fire districts. When you take into consideration the facts that the Greenfield Fire District is the most active (responds to the most calls) volunteer fire district in the County, and the largest geographically in the county and has four firehouses and 17 pieces of apparatus (compared to one or two stations and FAR fewer trucks), you see that our budget is extremely conservative compared to the size of this district.
   
   I am, respectfully, slightly insulted by the implication that we are spending money in a haphazardly or outlandish, frivolous manner. I challenge any taxpayer to fine anywhere in our budget anything that is "fluff" or otherwise extravagant.
5. "I believe that communication is a major issue not only in the fire district, but in the town as a whole - you are arguably just getting caught up in the many communication issues of the Planning Board, Zoning Board, Town Board and others - so you are not alone. I think you need to seriously work on the communication between the residents and the fire district - I know that you are simply 'covering your butts' with the legal notices, but no one reads those."
   
   I agree whole-heartedly with the concern about communication between taxpayers and their governments- the fire district is no exception. But I do believe that there is a misconception that there hasn't been proper advertising. Indeed, the Board of Fire Commissioners has gone "above and beyond" what we are required to by law.
   • there have been approximately 6 newspaper articles, not just legal notices. These articles have appeared in three different newspapers: Saratogian, Gazette and Times Union.
   • Each firehouse sign has - at a minimum - of one week for important information to be posted such as the ladder truck referendum.
   • The Board of Fire Commissioners now post all legal notices (enlarged to be easy to read) in town halls for residents to view.
   • We mail all minutes to each town supervisor each month
   • All supervisors are informed of any major event in the fire district either via email or via a personal meeting (usually both)
   • We have allocated funds next year to construct a district website to post minutes of each meeting and budget information
   • The Board is also discussing the idea of having regularly scheduled informational meetings - perhaps biannually with no specific agenda other than to inform the public of current fire district initiatives and to have a Q/A session
   • We have also discussed the idea of having monthly articles in the Penny-Saver, as it is a widely distributed newspaper in the Town of Greenfield, starting next year.
   So as you can see, the Board of Fire Commissioners is very much interested about addressing the "communication" concern voiced by many residents.