Anderson fire board asks chief for long-term priorities, district gets grant for new radios

At an Anderson Fire Protection District board meeting Feb. 9, Secretary of the Board Paul Bosetti asked Fire Chief Andy Nichols for a presentation of district priorities "to set up a policy of what we're after ... Give us something to shoot for every year."

Nichols responded that a list for the board discussion will be prepared for the district's March meeting. In no particular order, that list, Nichols said in an interview Feb 10, will include the following: • Hiring three new firefighters. • Receiving a new water tender (already funded). • Need for a new fire station on district property at Briarwood and North streets. • Need for a new fire engine to fight wildland and structure fires. • Need for a new engine reserved for fighting wildland fires. • Discuss the value and liability of purchasing a boat for river rescue operations. • Need for a ladder truck. • Need for a benefit assessment fee in the district this fall.

The fire district was awarded a $42,000 grant on Jan. 29 to purchase 33 portable radios to improve communications between firefighters, which requires the fire district to pay only five percent of the cost, Nichols announced at the board meeting.

"Communication is one of the biggest things in fire service," Nichols said.

Nichols wrote the grant to secure a new radio for every seat on every vehicle the district possesses.

"That way it doesn't matter what apparatus they get (into)," Nichols said. "If there's a seat, there's a radio."

The radios will be seated on charging devices in the vehicles. Currently the district has only about two or three radios per vehicle, Nichols said. Also, the old radios were not always compatible with other organizations' radios, nor were they "field programmable," Nichols said.

Going from a 14- to a 500-channel radio will be especially useful when fighting large fires involving several emergency agencies, Nichols said.

Most of the board meeting was spent in an hour-long training of California open meeting law with emphasis on the Ralph M. Brown Act. Susan Wilson of the League of Women voters presented the lecture.

Bosetti appreciated the training, and called it "educational."

Chairwoman of the Board Marsha Kelley remarked that she learned that by changing the time or location of a meeting constitutes a special meeting and not a regular meeting.

Chief Nichols and Vice Chairman of the Board Don Matheson both said they learned from the lecture that the AFPD board cannot hold a board meeting outside of its district.

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