Patient hardship and command vehicle addressed

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Fire Board received updates from Fire Chief Dave Lane and voted for him to handle a patient hardship request at their Jan. 21 meeting. They also answered questions regarding the accident involving the command vehicle.

Lane said the call volume for 2019 was 305, up 44 calls for 2018. They have a few new applications in for new members and more people are picking up applications to join the department. He felt this was very positive and looks forward to getting the new fire fighter recruits through their probation period. Following that they will discuss other training options.

When asked by the Pathfinder about damages to the Chief’s Command vehicle, Board Chair Scott Kennedy responded. He said the vehicle was involved in a “low-speed, slide off” on Placid Lake Road. When it slid off the road, it hit a small tree damaging the running board and side panel.

“It was immediately reported, law enforcement was there and everything was done per policy,” said Kennedy.

The vehicle is currently being fixed and will rejoin the fleet soon.

Lane presented the board with a proposal to work with a patient who is unable to pay their bill to the department for services rendered. He said he is working with the individual to get half of the charges paid by charitable community organizations and the rest through community service. The person will need to meet a certain number of hours to be completed in a designated amount time. If those hours are not completed, the bill will be turned into collections. Once they know how much the charitable organizations are willing to pay, Lane will determine if more community service needs to be done. Otherwise the rest will be written off.

“I don’t feel it is appropriate to automatically write off an account for somebody. I understand a hardship, but there are different ways of paying those,” said Lane.

The board agreed that every case is different, but for this instance, they unanimously approved allowing Chief Dave Lane to utilize alternative methods of payments. Every time the District is presented with a hardship case, Lane will present the board with a solution for their approval before implementing.

The next Fire Board meeting is Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Fire Hall, 200 Firehouse Lane.