Staff Reports

Photo of crews on a vehicle fire

Calls for Service Analysis

As of the report date, we are on call #1471 for the year. We are currently averaging 4.38 calls per day with an annual pace of 1598. That pace is almost exactly what we have anticipated.

Staffing

We are busy preparing for the changes coming in January when our newly promoted and hired members assume their new assignments. I have to give loads of credits to our Lieutenants and BCs for giving them all plenty of acting roles in December to prepare them.

We will be finishing another office in the admin building to accommodate the new Division Chief position along with the BCs. It’s hard to believe that we have now filled all office space in the building.

Correspondence

We are amidst a Christmas card blizzard at the moment. Many cards are coming in each day, which makes us feel warm and appreciated. Most notably is the wonderful gift from our neighbors Dave and Jenny that we receive every year. We remind them that an annual gift is not necessary but they always insist because they love having us as neighbors.

I expect that our firefighters will be enjoying many baked goods, cookies, and gifts from the community this month, so maybe they will share some with the board at the December meeting.

ELCO Fire Chiefs

The Chiefs have not met in 2 months, so not much to report. We are planning to meet with members of Douglas County Radio Shops to look at the future plans and opportunities for communications.

Community Leaders and Area Managers (CLAMS)

I surveyed the group about continuing to meet after a couple of members are no longer in the mix. They all voted to continue meeting through 2026 as they felt there was significant value in collaborating together. We agreed to kick the meetings off in January and meet monthly. Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is the best-selling single of all time, with over 50 million copies sold worldwide.

Elbert County Communications Authority (ECCA)

Chief Gerczynski has been auditing and evaluating the proposed 2026 ECCA budget. It is concerning that ECCA has such a limited financial outlook due to the incredible capital maintenance costs that we have. Unfortunately, the budget format is vague and needs more detail. Kara is working with the finance manager and new ECCA manager to build a new budget format with comparison and line items so that we can track our revenue and expenditures better.

Public Sector Healthcare Group Authority

Medical claims have stabilized quite a bit for the 4th quarter so revenue and reserves should be able to carry us through January if we have any more terrible weeks. As I told you all earlier, we were averaging $500,000 per week in claims, and we were topping 1.2 million over the summer and fall. I was very concerned about the claims draining our emergency reserves. Because we were able to correct the premiums with a 17% increase, we can absorb the additional claim amounts while building our emergency reserves back up.

My focus, now that we are stabilized, will be to train my successor as president so that they can take over with plenty of time to maintain a solid outlook.

Succession Planning

Our succession plan is substantially complete. I have had to modify a model that I was using to reflect Colorado law and some of our local items but it should flow well. Although there are many versions of a comprehensive succession plan, the focus of our plan is to offer guidance for interested candidates to prepare for their next position. It is designed to give them a real world look into each position, and what they can expect when they get there.

I plan to update the organizational chart before January to reflect our changes and potential future positions.

We finished interviews for our open Paramedic position and made an offer to fill this position. We also added 2 new part-time Paramedics, since we are promoting 2 to full-time.

The budget numbers have been finalized and will be sent to the board for approval for 2026.

We had one of our Reserves complete their paramedic certification this month, and we had applied for a grant to be reimbursed for half the cost. I have applied for reimbursement. We have now applied for another one of these grants for another Reserve and were accepted. This Reserve will start paramedic school in January.

Open enrollment was completed this month. Our benefits did not change for this year, but we thought it would be good for everyone to complete an active open enrollment, so they are familiar with their benefits.

EMS collection for November $47,001.16

Development and Impact Fees:

Zone 1 $544,184.82

Zone 2 $17,364.15

Zone 3 $18,416.05

Gift Agreement $323,984.65

Infrastructure Fund $107,760.00

Prevention/Administration

• Singing Hills Elementary – Fire Pump Replacement - I was informed today that the existing fire pump may be repairable rather than requiring full replacement. I am currently verifying whether certified personnel are performing the work and ensuring they are registered with the Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC).
• First Due Implementation - Contracts have been finalized, and we are entering the implementation phase for our First Due platform. The initial phase will focus on PCR reporting, personnel management, apparatus tracking, and prevention activities. The second phase is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of next year. I will continue to provide updates as we progress through each stage.
• Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code - DFPC will conduct a training session in December for Fire and County staff to review the new code and discuss potential adoption strategies within the County. In the absence of a Town Manager, I will begin coordinating with SAFEbuilt to determine their approach for implementation within the Town.
• BOCC Meeting - Last month, I attended the Board of County Commissioners meeting regarding proposed vacation of certain road easements. A new subdivision east of Cimarron, originally platted over 15 years ago, designated Pinto Trail and Palomino Trail as fire department access points. The County initially sought to vacate these easements but was unaware that doing so would require turnarounds at the road ends. The discussion has been tabled until December, but current indications suggest the County will allow fire department access only at the ends of these roads.
• Pine Ridge Crossing Development - The third apartment building at Pine Ridge Crossing has completed rough inspections for fire alarm and sprinkler systems. Construction on the fourth building is underway. Both buildings are projected to be occupied by the end of next year.

Fire Prevention Specialist (Ryan Seng)

• Crews have completed 99% of their inspections with 96% of their preplans completed. 69% of self-inspections have been completed.
• We are still doing reviews of battery energy storage systems installed in residential homes. Making sure these systems are compliant with UL standards and large-scale fire testing continues to be an issue with some installers.

Pre-Application Meetings

Photo of Pre-Application Meetings

• The fleet has kept me busy this past month.
• I have been in close contact with Front Range Fire Apparatus, and the confusion on the axle rating for the new Type 1 has been fixed. We are being supplied with a 20,400 lb. axle upgrade and the tires were upsized to 385s, which gives us the weight rating and safety factor Pierce wanted. The good news is Pierce has agreed to absorb half of that upgrade cost, Front Range Fire Apparatus is absorbing the other half, and we get an upgraded axle package.
• I received the graphics drawings for the new Type 3. They look good and closely match our current apparatus. I have approved of those drawings with only a couple of minor changes. Asher also told me they don’t typically send those drawings out until they are ready to start construction, so he is hopeful he will start seeing updates on that project within the next couple of weeks.
• Fleet has completed the engine overhaul on Engine 273. It is back in service and seems to be running well. The reserve Engine (HME) had a turbo failure the day before Engine 273 went back in service, which put us in a bit of a bind. Fleet got Engine 273 buttoned up the next day and started repairs on the HME, which is now repaired and has been placed back in reserve status.
• I have received the first two of our five new gas monitors. I am still waiting for delivery of the other three and the calibration docking station. Once all the new items are delivered, the vendor will come out and train us on the new units.
• Our Water Ops group has grown by one. Randy Seperich has completed his drivers training and has been cleared to sign up for on call shifts and respond to calls. He and Mike Bilbo are now concentrating their efforts on completing the training with our other new member, Roger Boone. Roger comes to us with about 30 years of fire service experience, so I anticipate that his training will go smoothly. I want to give a huge shoutout to both Mike Bilbo and B Shift for the time they have put into training these new Tender operators.
• We have had several Hazard Hit forms for gate codes forwarded to dispatch this last month. I’m happy to see these increasing and helping our customers and crews by minimizing access issues.

• As I mentioned last month, I've exhausted our registration and travel budget for 2025 training. Although we went over budget, I'm thankful that we have so many people that are utilizing these opportunities. Even though we are over budget, keep those training requests coming in for classes being offered in 2026, and we will work on getting registered at the first of the year.
• Congrats to Lt (BC)Regan for his promotion to Training BC. I am working on a reference/instruction book for him and will be working closely with him in the next few months. I'm excited to see what he does with the Training Division.
• Congrats to Firefighter (Lt) McGhee on her promotion to B-Shift Lieutenant. I've met with Brittany to get things started with her move to B Shift, and I'm excited for what she is going to bring to the table. Thankfully, she started out with us and has spent a lot of time on B Shift, so she knows what she's getting into!
• I'm hoping to attend the CFTOA meeting in person next week. DFPC is moving to the updated NFPA 1010 standard in 2026, and we need to determine how that will impact the 2026 academy testing process. The last update I had was that the change will take place on July 1. The updated standard will have some changes to the JPRs, but those have not yet been reviewed, approved, and published. The update also means that we are moving to the 8^th edition of the IFSTA Essentials book. So....standby, I should have some more information next week.
• Speaking of the CFTOA, I plan on adding BC Regan to the group in 2026. I have asked Chief Steck if I can stay on the FFI/FFI committee, and he graciously is allowing me to do so as long as Brenden can be involved. I'll make that request at the CFTOA meeting next week.
• We are working on updating the Training Travel Policy. We will be clarifying how per diem is issued and define when the department will cover the cost of lodging.
• Lt. Regan and I will be working with CSU to get our 2026 CORE evaluations on the schedule. We should be able to get them scheduled for January or February.

• Congratulations to Zach Tyler for being accepted into the Arapahoe Community College Paramedic Program! He will be starting the year-long program on January 19th. Zach will be receiving funds from the department to support necessary tuition and fees for the program. The department also received CREATE grant funding to cover 50% of the cost. Good luck, Zach, you will do great!
• ETO Johnson earned his BLS CPR Instructor to aid in department and community CPR education/certification. He and STO Sheikh will be holding CPR renewal classes for each shift during the month of December to recertify all department members. I'll be recertifying our admin staff when I can get everyone in the same room for two hours.
• The American Heart Association released their new guidelines for 2025, which means all new materials needed to be purchased. We opted to go with a streaming version of the courses instead of DVDs this time for simplicity with us having multiple instructors.
• We had four members attend the State EMS conference in Keystone this year. They attended some great classes, and learned a lot! Three of the four were first timers at the conference, which makes me happy to get some new faces up there.
• Station 273 received some upgrades to replace aged equipment that is well past its serviceable life to include new mattresses, wall lockers, new compressor, and new kitchen refrigerator.

EMS Calls (excluding "no patient"):

• Nov 2024 = 65 (43 Transports / 66%)
• Nov 2025 = 54 (40 Transports / 74%)

This year, our new year's resolution is to help our community get to know us better! We’ve introduced a new item to our social media accounts, titled “Firefighter Friday,” where, every Friday, we introduce another member of our staff to our community. This has been very well received by the members of our District. Below are the Firefighter Friday highlights for the month of November.

This month, we highlighted Part-Time Paramedic-Firefighter Tim Snyder, Firefighter EMT Colton Befus, Reserve Candidate Kyle Gustafson, and Part-Time Firefighter EMT Lucas Vasquez!