RFD1 fire suppression agreement sent to state for final approval

At their monthly meeting Tuesday, members of the Rural Fire District 1 Board said they would sign a fire suppression agreement with the city of Havre that morning, giving the agreement its final stamp of approval before being sent to the state to be made official.

The RFD1 Board approved the contract, which it sent to the city for consideration last month, establishing that the city will provide fire suppression services to the people of Rural Fire District 1 and that the district will appoint someone local to handle fire code enforcement.

RFD1 is essentially a ring around Havre in which the Havre Fire Department previously provided fire suppression service, but last December the city announced it would cancel the previous contract effective at the end of June to enable writing another contract which delegated responsibility for enforcing fire codes in the district.

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon has said there are buildings in RFD1 that are being built with fire code violations and they need someone local to handle enforcement of these codes for the safety of residents and Havre’s firefighters.

The board and the city failed to reach a new agreement by the original deadline, leaving Rural Fire District 1 unprotected, at least on paper. After the deadline passed, Solomon gave an extension which was later would have run out July 15, extended through the end of July and again to the end of August.

The conflict came to a head when RFD1 allowed that deadline to pass, after which the district was again left unprotected.

After a tense meeting the day after the deadline passed, one last two-week extension was granted on the understanding that the RFD1 board would work toward appointing someone to enforce fire codes.

Hill County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Amanda Frickel, who has expressed significant frustration at the situation, as well as Kremlin Rural Fire Department Chief Kody Peterson offered at that time to cover fire code enforcement during the extension and have both since offered to do that through June 2022 in order to give the RFD1 board enough time to work out the specifics of an ongoing enforcement plan.

With the unanimous approval by the city council, and the signature of the RFD1 board members this conflict appears to have finally reached its end, provided the state approves the agreement, which appears very likely.

RFD1 Chair Steve Jamruszka said he doesn’t have an ETA on when the state will get back to them, but he suspects it will be within a couple of months.

Solomon and Jamruszka have both said it’s highly unlikely that the state will not approve the contract.

“It’s more a contract recording than anything else,” Jamruszka said Tuesday.

During the meeting RFD1 members also discussed the recent discovery that they have access to a trio of firetrucks that have gone completely unused for years.

Jamruszka said he was told about a month ago about these engines, which were apparently procured by a previous incarnation of the board, and he’s been thinking about what to do with them.

He said the engines have been sitting around unused for a very long time so it’s probable that they require a lot of repairs, but he did notice that they have water tanks that could be removed and put on other vehicles to create water tenders, as well a pumps that have never been plumbed, which could also be used.

RFD1 Board member Neil Larson said they should probably bring the engines into a shop to find out exactly what the board has on its hands.