Minutes 09-13-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Eno Fire Chief Bryan Baker said that he is also the Chair of the Fire Chiefs Council. He said that he sent a letter to the Commissioners (in the agenda packet) on behalf of the Council. One of the main concerns is the fire district lines. With Eno, it has assisted Caldwell Fire Department with some of their issues. He said that there will probably be a lot more of that. He said that Eno Fire provides two paid staff M-F, 8-6 p.m. The volunteers provide coverage at night. He said that the communication issue is one he wants to address tonight. He said that the VIPER system has failed them on a regular basis and more towers are needed in their area. They average about 600 calls a year and they are split with fire and emergency calls. He said that he has noticed a difference in the EMS response times with the addition of an extra Medic with the County. Orange Rural Fire Chief Jeff Cabe said that with coordination of Emergency Services and Fire Departments, there are strained relations and there are also issues with relationships with the County. He said that the call processes are good, but there are antiquated paper fire card systems and that is why there are delays. His department covers Hillsborough, so there is an enormous amount of rescue calls. He said that there is not a problem with the field, but with the Emergency Services management and the budgets. He urged the County Commissioners to look at digital radio systems and see what other fire departments are saying about them. These systems are not reliable. He said that Orange County is willing to fund only so much and that is all. He said that Orange Rural has found ways to save citizens by joining in with other departments. He said that something has happened nowadays and he does not have time to worry about frequent meetings and constantly being questioned. Tony Blake, White Cross Board of Directors (BOD) President said that he reviewed some issues that the County could address. White Cross Fire Chief Jerry Lloyd said that a firefighter was hired for the district, but the main reason that he was hired was to assist him and the board president to do the paperwork required in order to lower the fire insurance rating for homeowners (ISO). This took three or four years. He also raised concerns about the VIPER system. The County needs new towers. Bill Waddell, Chair of BOD of Orange Grove Fire Department, said that the question of insurance rates is a concern of the residents in his fire district. They want to help their citizens get lower fire insurance rates. He said that the fire rates have never been an issue with their response, and they are just trying to just save their residents some money. He said that there was a discussion about this, but the subject changed to insurance districts. The insurance districts idea is new and would allow Commissioners to draw service lines through the County as they deem appropriate. He said that it was a surprise to them as fire departments when they came to a County meeting and this was discussed with no agenda. He said that Orange Grove has decided to build two new substations, which will address the residents outside the six-mile district. The plan is to do this within the next 12 months. Regarding the ES study, he said that at one of the meetings he had asked about the possibility of having an issue with the data in the study and the County's reaction was that this would never happen. He said that there is data in the report that is non-factual, inaccurate, incorrect, and incomplete. He said that the correct information was given to the consultants repeatedly, but it never showed up in the study. He suggested that the report should not be used at all. South Orange Rescue Service (SORS) Chief Matthew Mauzy said that their needs and concerns are sometimes different, but a lot of their needs are consistent, such as radio systems