Price Tag Drops for Safety Gear Replacement

 

January 25, 2018



SEELEY LAKE – A major savings in safety gear was a major point of discussion at the Seeley Lake Fire District board met Jan. 16.

Michael Lyons from General Fire in Spokane, Wash. told Seeley Lake Fire Chief Michael Greer that all of the department’s firefighting turnouts and Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) are new enough and well within compliance. Rather than look at replacing the gear, he recommended some repairs and five lens will be replaced under warranty.

The department needs to replace all 24 of their oxygen tanks this year because they expire. The plan is to replace 12 units at $850 each and then get used tanks that have not expired for $50-100 each. This will get the department into a replacement rotation. A new SCBA system with the tank, harness and mask is $6,500.

“This will allow us to handle the replacement in smaller chunks,” said Greer. “This replacement will be much less expensive than we thought and will be well within the budgeted amount of $18,000.”

Turnouts also need to be replaced. Greer suggested ordering 10 new sets of turnouts at $1,600 each. They are lighter, have a higher safety rating and have softer material than the turnouts they currently have.

“Hopefully within the next two months we will have all of our SCBAs completely repaired and up to snuff and 10 new sets of turnouts for our people,” said Greer.

In other business:

• Board member Rita Rossi apologized in a letter to Lynn Richards for her aggressive comments towards Richards at the last meeting, Dec. 19. “Upon reflection, it was inappropriate and I regret many of my comments I made and how they were stated,” said Greer reading the letter of the absent Rossi.

• Greer updated the website and the district regained management of it. The website domain http://www.seeleyfire.org has not changed. It is user-friendly and can be easily updated by Richards or any other trained member of the department.

• Only one person applied for the maintenance position. With Greer’s recommendation, the board agreed to interview the applicant, a local person from Seeley Lake, and then determine how they would proceed.

• There have been numerous applicants for the Fire Chief position. Chair Scott Kennedy said the hiring committee, including volunteers of the Fire Company, will narrow the applicant pool and hope to start interviews in the next three weeks.

A special meeting regarding personnel is scheduled for Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. The meeting may be closed for privacy.

The next regularly scheduled meeting is Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Fire Hall, 200 Firehouse Lane. The agenda and any special meetings will be posted at http://www.seeleyfire.org.

 

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