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Fire Services Mutual Aid AgreementKalispell Fire/Ambulance Dept. 336 1 st Ave. East • P.O. Box 1997 Kalispell, MT 59903-1997 January 24, 2002 To: Chris Kukulski, City Manager From: Randy Brodehl, Fire Chief(CC ( � Re: Surrounding Fire Districts cancellation of mutual aid agreement Telephone 406-758-7764 Fax 406-758-7758 Chris, Thought I'd give you some information to go along with the media stuff that is out on this issue. Please contact me if you have any questions. According to the ISO Suppression Rating Schedule, #511, #512, only automatic aid agreements impact a District or City rating. Contrary to several statements made by representatives of the surrounding fire districts, mutual aid agreements have no impact. Mutual aid agreements are designed to provide assistance after all internal resources have been exhausted and are generally considered replacement agreements to relieve personnel on the line and to respond to additional alarms. Automatic aid agreements send resources from two or more Districts/Departments at the same time that the alarm is activated, thus providing additional personnel and apparatus for initial attack. I have approached all four of the fire district chiefs surrounding the City of Kalispell within the last six months, to discuss automatic aid agreements. All four have refused to discuss this issue, citing the reason that they would be speeding up the process of their districts being taken away through annexation. 2. The Fire Chief of West Valley stated that the city annexes areas that are unprotected by fire hydrants so require them to respond with water tenders to support the fire engines. All developments in the City of Kalispell are approved subject to fire hydrants meeting the specifications of that application. Developed areas that are annexed are put into a correction plan that adds hydrants as required. When undeveloped land is annexed, the Kalispell Fire Department does not have apparatus designed for wildland fire suppression so has had to rely on the rural districts to provide apparatus and personnel for roadless areas. Addressing this need is part of our goals and objectives and is a high priority for the 2002/2003 budget. There are approximately 350-500 acres of wildland in the city, including Lawrence Park, the recently annexed DNRC property, Woodland Park, Stratford Village area, and newly annexed property on Whitefish Stage Rd. Should we have a fire in these areas, we would need mutual aid from other agencies. However, this would be limited in scope, since no structures of value would be involved in areas that we could not access with structural fire apparatus. 3. A. There is a countywide mutual aid agreement that is managed by the County Office of Emergency Services. The day after the Districts withdrew from the mutual aid agreement with us, I requested and received a copy of the agreement. Only then did I realize that it had an expiration date, as most similar agreements can only be changed when one or more of the entities formally request a change, otherwise the agreement is perpetuating. B. State of Montana Code Annotated 2001, 7-33-2405, and 10-3-209 are attached. Note that signed mutual aid agreements are not required in the State of Montana. It is a state requirement that any fire agency can request assistance from any other agency and that other agency must make the decision then whether they can or will send apparatus and personnel. This Code is very clear that we have the authority to request response from any other agency. That agency can deny response at the time of request, but they are not authorized to pre -deny the request. So, the City of Kalispell will, if needed, request assistance from the nearest agency that has the necessary apparatus and personnel. C. Flathead County has provided a document establishing rates that the County will charge the City of Kalispell, should we request assistance from other agencies in the County. I can not find that the County has this authority, but do find that the MCA clearly states that requests and agreements will be made between individual agencies, and does not include provision for a third party authority. 4. West Valley Fire Chief Rod Dresbach stated during the City Council meeting and in the media that the Kalispell Fire Department told at least one business owner that we were very close to re-signing the countywide mutual aid agreement. Kalispell Fire Department has never discussed re-signing of the letter with any business owner, or told anyone that we are in the final stages of re-signing a mutual aid agreement. This would not have been feasible, since it was only yesterday afternoon that we found out the agreement had expired. To our knowledge, no one has questioned any fire department employee about the agreement. 5. In addressing further comments made by Rod Dresbach, Kalispell Fire Department does not take the stand that career firefighters are professional and volunteers are not. We don't take that stand now, and will not in the future. We recognize the personal dedication that is made by each and every volunteer, and realize the commitment to excellence that this takes. We also recognize that volunteer and career firefighters do their job with exactly the same amount of dedication each and every time the alarm bell rings. This should have been very evident to him when we did a joint training exercise over 45 days that culminated in burning a two story, very large apartment building. He was the Safety Officer, and his crew fulfilled a primary role in the exercise. Volunteers and career firefighters alike were given the same expectations, and the same praise both during the exercise, and in a follow-up letter to the respective districts. 6. In the past nine months, and for an unknown time prior to that, none of the four fire districts have addressed the City Council with any concern regarding annexation or otherwise. I have encouraged each of the district fire chiefs to use this venue when questions arise about annexations by the City. There are three fire districts that annexation by the City of Kalispell has impacted recently, or will impact in the near future. These are West Valley, Evergreen, and South Kalispell. I met individually with all three Fire Chiefs. I requested that we discuss the impacts on the districts that occur due to annexations. The surrounding district Fire Chiefs refused to address the impacts, only saying that the City has no business annexing parts of their districts. Twice I have requested meetings with the Board of South Kalispell in an effort to discuss and lessen the community fire protection impact of possible annexations of parts of their District. Both times, the District refused to allow me to speak with them. Each time they told me that they would let me know when they had made a decision about their position on annexation. 8. Creston Fire Department, Whitefish Fire Department, Polson Fire Department, and Bigfork Fire Department have contacted me and stated that if we request assistance, they will respond immediately with any apparatus we request. As was shown in #3B above, this falls well within the guidelines established for mutual aid response as written in the MCA 2001. pow � AMFOPK VOLUNTEER FIRE PfPre v" 810 GRAND DRIVE BIGFORK, MT 59911 January 24, 2002 Mr. Randy Brodehl, Fire Chief Kalispell Fire/Ambulance 336 1st Ave. East P.O. Box 1997 Kalispell, MT. 59903-1997 Chief Brodehl: News events of the last two days have not gone unnoticed in Bigfork and the Bigfork Fire Department continues to "stand ready" if called upon to protect life and property within our scope and preparedness. We will respond to Kalispell in the event of an emergency that would require our manpower and equipment. I have met with our Board of Trustees, in an emergency meeting, to work out details of such a response. Randy, if the City needs help, please do not hesitate to call on us and we will respond under our guidelines to emergency responses within the County. Copies of this letter will go to Kalispell City Police Depart- ment and Flathead County Sheriff Office Dispatch. I have already spoke to department heads in these two offices and informed them of the above. If there is anything I can personally do to help out let me know. I am confident these mutual aid matters will be resolved in time and we can get on with what we've been educated and trained to do. Respectfully Submitted: Vern Childers, Fire Chief Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department cc: Kalispell City Police Department Chief Frank Garner Flathead County Sheriff Department Sheriff James Dupont Dispatch Office 10-3-209. Political subdivision requests for assistance — application to fire districts, fire service areas, and fire companies in unincorporated places -- immunity. (1) If an incident, emergency, or disaster occurs in a political subdivision that has not concluded a mutual aid agreement pursuant to 10-3-202, the local or interjurisdictional agency, incident commander, or principal executive officer of the political subdivision may request assistance from another public or private agency. (2) (a) The following individuals or entities may request assistance with an incident, emergency, or disaster if a mutual aid agreement has not been concluded for protection of the area within the jurisdiction of these individuals or entities: (i) the trustees of a rural fire district created pursuant to Title 7, chapter 33, part 21, a representative of the trustees, or an incident commander for the district; (ii) the chief of a rural fire company organized pursuant to 7-33-2311 or an incident commander for the chief, (iii) the governing body of a fire service area created pursuant to Title 7, chapter 33, part 24, a representative of the governing body, or an incident commander for the area. (b) A request for assistance by an individual or entity under subsection (2)(a) may be made to any of the following: (i) a fire district; (ii) an unincorporated municipality; (iii) an incorporated municipality; (iv) a state agency; (v) a private fire prevention agency; (vi) an agency of the federal government; (vii) a fire service area; or (viii) the governing body of a political subdivision. (3) A public or private agency receiving a request pursuant to subsection (1) or (2) shall determine if it will provide the requested assistance, or will provide other assistance, and shall inform the requesting local or interjurisdictional agency, principal executive officer, incident commander, or other individual or entity making the request, as soon as possible, of that determination. The nature and extent of assistance provided by a public or private agency may be determined only by that public or private agency. (4) The incident commander of the local or interjurisdictional agency making a request for assistance has overall responsibility for command of the resources provided by a public or private agency responding to a request. However, operational control of individual pieces of equipment and personnel furnished by the responding public or private agency remains with that agency. (5) This section does not waive an immunity or limitation on liability applicable to any of the following entities or individuals requesting or receiving assistance pursuant to this section: (a) a fire district; (b) a fire service area; (c) a fire company; (d) an unincorporated municipality, town, or village; (e) a political subdivision; or (f) an agent, employee, representative, or volunteer of an entity listed in this subsection. 7-33-2405. Mutual aid agreements -- request if no agreement exists — definitions. (1) A mutual aid agreement is an agreement for protection against natural disasters, incidents, or emergencies or disasters, incidents, or emergencies caused by persons. (2) The governing body of a fire service area may enter mutual aid agreements with the proper authority of: (a) other fire service areas; (b) unincorporated municipalities; (c) incorporated municipalities; (d) state agencies; (e) private fire prevention agencies; (f) federal agencies; (g) fire districts; and (h) governing bodies of other political subdivisions. (3) If the governing body of a fire service area has not concluded a mutual aid agreement, the governing body, a representative of the governing body, or an incident commander may request assistance pursuant to 10-3-209. (4) As used in this section, "incidents", "disasters", or "emergencies" has the meaning ascribed to the term in 10-3-103. History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 149, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 46, L. 1997. Compiler's Comments: 1997 Amendment: Chapter 46 in (1), before "disasters", deleted "manmade" and after "disasters" inserted "incidents, or emergencies or disasters, incidents, or emergencies caused by persons"; in (2)(d), after "agencies", deleted "that have fire prevention services'; inserted (2)(h) regarding governing bodies of other political subdivisions; inserted (3) allowing assistance requests if a mutual aid agreement has not been concluded; inserted (4) defining incidents, disasters, or emergencies; and made minor changes in style. Effective Date: Section 5, Ch. 149, L. 1993, provided: "[This act] is effective on passage and approval." Approved March 24, 1993.