Wamic Rural Fire Protection District Board Meeting

May 18, 2024

The meeting was called to order by President Larry Warren at 10:00am.

Board Members present: Larry Warren, John Creel, Neil Senger, John Ickes and Cindy Koch. Members in the audience were: Merle Hlavka, Chief Larry Magill, Tina Goleman and John Goleman.

Minutes of the April 20, 2024 board meeting: Motion passed to accept the minutes was made by Neil Senger. John Creel seconded this motion once the changes were corrected as to the status of the Grants. Motion passed.

CORRESPONDENCE: None

TREASURER’S REPORT: The budget is scheduled to be approved in a May 22, 2024 meeting for the 2024-25 tax year. The first of two meetings to get this passed was on May 7, 2024.

CHIEF’S REPORT:

Status of vehicles in for repair or sale: We are securing 2 engines from Arlington. One will be installed in 557, the other will be used for parts. Larry Magill and John Goleman are working on this.

EMS: The fire department has been called out 48 times. Two life flight calls were made in the last two days, both cardiac.

Training: Per John Goleman, all training has scheduled to October 2024.

COMMUNICATION: John Goleman has been working with a friend from Wheelers, and we now have 12 handheld devices working, with 6 or 7 mobile devices in repair.

SAFETY: No changes

OLD BUSINESS:

Grants pending or open:

Cares act-FEMA LABOR. Is no longer active.

FEMA building grant: Is no longer active.

Wildfire Mitigation Grant: has been approved. We will be awarded $976,000 for this grant. The money will first go to the County, then it is distributed to the Fire Department. We probably won’t see these funds until Winter 2024.

New Staffing Grant: Oregon Fire Marshall - Active

Generators expected to be completely installed in the next couple of weeks.

EMS and fire coverage of the district Paid time vs volunteer time: There is a dangerous lack of volunteers in our fire department. To serve our population we sometimes need to call on Maupin, Dufer and The Dalles to help us out. There are days that we have no coverage for that day. If we do not have coverage 10% of the time, we are subject to losing our certification. The County Commissioners are suggesting a Standard of Operation for rural fire departments that is nearly impossible to meet, due to the lack of volunteers and the distance that must be traveled to get to a neighbor in need. Right now, they are expecting an ambulance to roll out within 10 minutes of a call, which is not usually possible due to the location of the volunteers to get to the ambulance. We may need to split our ambulance’s location – one in Rock Creek and one at the Fire House to help meet this requirement. One of the primary solutions to this problem is by acquiring more volunteers.

Grange meeting recently held regarding wildfire mitigation: Only 12 people in our community attended.

NEW BUSINESS:

Chief Larry Magill and John Goleman have corrected the flooring problem in the room containing the Ice Machine. The floor is currently down to the original floor of the building. A new ice machine has been installed.

It is time to evaluate how we do fundraisers, due to the lack of volunteers to put on these events.

Meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.

Submitted by Cindy Koch