From the Chief

With the close of fiscal year 2006/07, I wanted to look back to recognize some of the milestones that we’ve completed during the year.  The District made its last payments to Wells Fargo Bank and Mountain West Bank for the debt incurred.  We also made the final lease payment to Kansas State Bank for water tender 1272.  What does this mean?  The District is completely debt free and is starting the strategic planning process for capital improvements to our apparatus fleet.

We took delivery of and placed in service a new fire engine that was funded by the 2005 Assistance to Firefighter Grant written by Barb Jorgensen.  This new engine is an all wheel drive custom pumper built by Boise Mobile Equipment.  It features a 1250 gallon per minute pump, four person cab on an International chassis.  For the Sagle Fire District staff, it was the first new fire engine most, if not all, had ever seen and is the pride of the fleet.  The addition of this new engine will allow us the flexibility to place an engine at one of our other stations.

Speaking of other stations, The Bottle Bay Station 5 was completed and listed by the Idaho Rating and Surveying Bureau thanks to the efforts of Firehouse Five, which is a non-profit organization put together to build the station.  Thanks to the efforts of Jack Lensing, Larry Gay, Steve Fels, Will Valentine, Ron Hale, Don Goffinet and many others in the area, monies were raised to build the station.  These same folks are now part of the volunteer firefighter force that continues to support the District and the residents by responding to incidents. 

Another milestone that is almost complete is our new Station 4 locate on West Seneaquoteen Road.  Thanks to the generous donation of a parcel of land in the Crossings subdivision by Mr. Jerry Hansen, the efforts of Commissioner Klaus Winkelmann as the project manager, and the donations of many people in the area, the station should be completed by this fall.  Once that occurs, the Idaho Surveying and Rating Bureau will list the station.  Our next challenge will be to find an adequate number of volunteers that can respond quickly to incidents in the area.  We are starting to see a small amount of applications but still need more.

The District was also fortunate to receive the 2006 AFG grant for new fire hose and we have completely replaced our old hose some of which dates back to more than 20 years old.  We were able to buy enough hose for each engine and water tender and still have excess in the station for replacement after a fire.  We were also able to buy some much needed new nozzles since the price on the fire hose was not as high as originally estimated. 

July 29, 2007, a sudden wind storm visited Bonner County and especially liked Sagle Fire.  While crews were busy starting to respond to the myriad of incidents as a result of the high winds, half of the station roof blew off.  Thanks to the huge efforts of paid and volunteer staff, we were able to respond to all reported incidents, assess most areas for further damage or access issues, and place a temporary blue tarp on the roof of the main fire station.  This would not have been possible if it had not been for the generous assistance of Fire Chief Robert Tyler who headed up the roof repair efforts. 

Our relationship with the Sandpoint Fire Department continues to get stronger.  We have a very strong mutual aid agreement which gets tested routinely in both Districts.  We have also established quarterly multi-agency training which continues the good working relationship between both agencies. 

With the help of many District residents, staff and business owners, our raffle and rummage sale was a huge success and we were able to raise over $9,000 in order to purchase a Thermal Imaging Camera or TIC.  This new technology will allow firefighters to much more quickly locate victims in structure fires and increase firefighter safety.  We are currently in the final phases of evaluating several different models and will be purchasing a camera soon. 

A much needed addition to the engine room at the main station was just completed.  This additional room will give us the ability to safely store our fire hose and other tools and equipment.  The on-duty crews worked to finish the grading and install insulation and sheetrock to complete the project. 

Our calls for service continue to rise due to the growth in the area and increased volume of traffic on Highway 95.  During 06/07 we responded to a record 688 incidents and we expect that trend to continue.  As our call volume increases, our need for a cadre of volunteers for all our stations also increases.  The District is constantly trying to recruit volunteers utilizing a variety of methods.

Many of our accomplishments would not have been possible without the support of our paid and volunteer staff, the Board of Commissioners, and, most importantly, the citizens that we serve.  We look forward to fiscal year 07/08 and the new challenges that are just over the horizon such as the development of the Sagle Valley Water District and the possible growth it may bring, and the Highway 95 widening project which will create a much safer corridor through the area but may require us to relocate our main station.