Chief’s report for February 2012

I would like to start this report by announcing the final selection for the two probationary firefighter’s position. We received many extremely high quality applications and the final selection was a daunting and challenging task.  After narrowing the field to eleven finalists each candidate was required to pass a physical fitness test and then a battery of questions in front of a five member review panel. The review panel then reduced the field to six. Choosing the final two became even more challenging and the selections are;
Melvit (Mel) Holtz from Missoula, Montana and Thomas J. Haviland, Frenchtown, Montana.
Please see attached bio on each firefighter.

Mel Holtz

Thomas Haviland

Please attend the Monday night regular board meeting February 13TH at 7PM and meet the new firefighters.
Starting on or about March 1st burn permits for Missoula County will be available on line only. The cost will be $5.00 per permit and payment must be made by credit card. When we have more details from the health department it will be posted on our web site.

This past month has been relatively quiet except for the bus roll over south of Clinton. Frenchtown responded with our ambulance along with others from the surrounding area. The disaster response and mutual aid system worked and worked well. A combination of joint training and working relationships with multi-agencies made a big difference in the seamless flow and successful completion of the mission.
The 2011 AFG (assistance to firefighters grant) is complete and will be closed out by the end of the week. We are hoping to get some good news on the 2012 grant we applied for in September and start working to complete all repairs.

Last week our structure engine (811) slid off a secondary road and hit a small tree.  Thankfully there were no injuries and minor front end damage. Approximate total cost for repairs including the wrecker bill (remove from ditch) is around $2000.00. Due to icy road conditions and combining that with the weight of the structure engine made stopping extremely difficult.

Training is in full swing and for the next several months the department will be certifying and or recertifying our members in medical, firefighting tactics, wildland fire fighting and driver operations.  There is a link to the training calendar on the home page of the website.

Mitchell Hicks –Interim Chief