Staff Reports

Photo of the engine on a structural fire - Photo taken by Ethan Dunlop / 303firephotography

Calls for Service Analysis

As of the report date, we are on call #1213 for the year. We are currently averaging 4.44 calls per day with an annual pace of 1622. Our pace is creeping back up, but remains manageable.

Staffing

We have been navigating through two recent staffing changes on the full-time side but, luckily, all of our crew members have stepped up to cover the vacancies. We have job postings out for Paramedic/FF positions and anticipate hiring soon. We are excited to be focusing on hiring the “right” candidate for our district instead of just hiring for capability. This new objective will ensure that we can not only hire the right people but retain them as well.

ELCO Fire Chiefs

ELCO Chiefs cancelled their meeting last month due to scheduling. We are scheduled this month to meet with the new County OEM Director, who happens to be a past EFPD employee. During this upcoming meeting, we are looking forward to streamlining the responsibilities of OEM and clarifying who has responsibility for specific tasks.

Community Leaders and Area Managers (CLAMS)

CLAMS have all but dismantled for now. I think the agencies around us are dealing with tons of issues and some of them are arguing with each other, so, for now, I’m just going to let things rest. To my knowledge, I don’t believe EFPD is involved in any of the problems.

Elbert County Communications Authority (ECCA)

ECCA is currently in a rocky transition as Jim White tries to retire. He is working hard to put process in place that continues the operation but not many of the board members are chipping in. Chief G is monitoring things and trying to provide assistance where she can but, honestly, some of the assistance is being met with resistance (that sounded like a country western song!). We have very different views regarding the future of ECCA, and I suppose we are just waiting until the transition occurs to look at what changes are in place.

I did make a statement that I would like to see ECCA transform away from a radio-focused group to more of a 911 funding authority, which would potentially minimize our involvement in costly radio infrastructure. This was not a welcome concept, and I was immediately assigned the strategic planning update for ECCA. Should I choose to accept that mission, it will be after I complete the higher priority commitments that are currently on my plate.

Public Sector Healthcare Group Authority

Speaking of higher priority, the Healthcare Group continues to be a demanding responsibility. Our claims continue to be significantly higher than in years past. We are averaging $800,000 in claims per week. Many of these claims are for medications that cost 20-30k per month per user. We have also learned that Colorado saw a 40% increase in surgeries in 2025. Even with 18% premium increase, we remain 15-20% lower than other group rates. Harry Houdini died on Halloween.

Admin Training

Our admin staff was able to attend the 2025 SDA conference for 3 days this year. There were some very useful classes for all of our levels. Chief G and I presented a session called “Grow Big or Grow Home.” It was a breakout session that identified the signs of an agency that needs to change or grow. It was well received by the attendees and SDA.

I will also be attending the Colorado Fire Chiefs - Fire Leadership Challenge in October. I was asked to present our Eastern Colorado Chiefs white paper to the Colorado Fire Commission and hope to gain some traction in getting legislative changes that protect rural Colorado fire districts in the future. I am looking forward to 4 days of leadership-based training to enhance my skills.

Succession Planning

I am making steady progress on our succession plan document. The intent of the document will be to educate promotional candidates on the formal aspects of each position and provide fewer formal expectations for each position. This way, candidates can look at each position and have a good idea of what may be required of them in the future. The informal descriptions are being written with assistance of our members that are already in the positions.

Photos of Elizabeth Fire, Rattlesnake Fire, and South Metro fire apparatus and crews on a structural fire - Photos taken by Ethan Dunlop / 303firephotography

Prevention/Administration

• Singing Hills Elementary Pump Replacement – I have looped the State of Colorado Life Safety Section into the issues we are having at getting the pump replaced at Singing Hills Elementary. We will jointly monitor the progress of the fire pump replacement.
• Wildfire Resiliency Code – I am trying to set up a meeting in November individually with the County and the Town of Elizabeth to start the talks about adopting and enforcing the code. It’s been hard to get all parties at the table.
• I had a meeting with Gold Creek HOA and the Town Manager about their riparian area. The Town has some mitigation regulations about tall grasses, and they gave the subdivision a variance until the subdivision can come up with a plan to mitigate that area. The mitigation grant still has funding left, and the subdivision would like to partake in that grant to help with that area. They will be meeting with the CSFS this week.
• We had a demo with First Due RMS software. It is a complete package to handle PCR, NERIS, notification, scheduling, inventory, personnel, department calendar, and all fire prevention aspects. We are using about 5 different software to do the same work that this one software can provide. If we decide to move, it will be an aggressive schedule since Target Solutions renews in January.

Fire Prevention Specialist (Ryan Seng)

• Crews have completed 77% of their inspections with 70% of their preplans completed. 63% of self-inspections have been completed.
• We had a good turnout for our fire extinguisher event! About 20 businesses arrived to have their extinguishers inspected or replaced, with 2 businesses from out of district. Additionally, we had a few homeowners replace their old extinguishers for their kitchens and barns.
• Fire Prevention Week is Oct 5th-11th. This year’s safety message is “Charge into Fire Safety™: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Your Home.” We sent out a post on Facebook and Instagram on October 6th.

Pre-Application Meetings

Photo of Pre-Application Meetings

In the month of September, we had 2 paramedics resign, so we opened the paramedic application window. We got 5 applications, which we will interview in October. One application came in for a part-time paramedic that we did interview in September and will be moving to the ride-along process. If this candidate works, we hope to have them on by the end of October. We also were able to promote one part-time paramedic to full-time work to help with our short fall of paramedics. We also moved one of our part-time paramedics to temporary full-time work to help as well.

We also closed the window for our hiring list. We interviewed 19 individuals for this list. At the end of this process, we were able to add 5 people to the A bank, 10 people to the B bank, and 4 people to the C bank. These banks were created from our new hiring policy. The A bank is for the top 5 in scores; the B bank is for everyone else with the C bank for anyone that doesn’t have all their certifications.

The budget is mostly complete for September. The property tax revenue will be a work in progress to complete the calculation.

We were able to onboard 4 new reserves. We are completing our final oral boards for 2025 for our reserve program at the beginning of October.

EMS collection for September $36,173.24

Development and Impact Fees:

Zone 1 $544,184.82

Zone 2 $17,364.15

Zone 3 $18,416.05

Gift Agreement $317,576.50

Infrastructure Fund $102,680

Photo of a Fire Prevention Week social media graphic

• Our staff continues to take advantage of both internal and external training opportunities. Unfortunately, the cost of these external trainings is getting a little out of hand, and our training budget is tapped. I will still be able to cover the cost of shift coverage if people take advantage of free trainings. The good news is that a lot of these trainings that our folks have been attending are in line with current and/or future position descriptions, so I'm happy to see our people planning for the future.
• I've been working with ETO Johnson and Chief Mackall to organize some outside EMS trainings. ETO Johnson has jumped headfirst into his new role and is doing great things already. He will be a huge asset to me as I move into the EMS BC role.
• Speaking of the EMS BC role, I've been talking to Chief Mackall and he has identified some of the challenges that he sees for me when I move out of Training. We will continue to collaborate on what I can do to mitigate those challenges.
• I wasn't able to attend the Pipeline training late last month, but I have heard it was a great training. I'll try again to get them to provide training for B and C shift later this year or early next year.
• We still have the TIMS training scheduled with Elizabeth PD on October 22nd. The other two sessions were cancelled by PD, and, as far as I know, this last one is still happening.
• Thanks to Lt. Regan for managing our annual hose and ladder testing process again this year. The process is a logistical nightmare, so thank you Lt. Regan for taking that on. This year we had 17,475 feet of hose tested, and 246 feet of ladders tested.
• I'm attending the 3-day Science to the Station conference in early November. I'll be taking classes on subjects ranging from Leadership, mental and physical health, critical decision-making, readiness, etc.

Photo of Engine 271 after a rainstorm

• Rocky Vista University reached out to see if we would be interested in participating in a large MCI training in October. ETO Johnson has taken the lead on coordinating this training and developing a partnership with the school to hopefully receive some EMS training from them in the future. ETO Johnson has been doing a great job in his new role and is bringing a lot to the EMS division!
• Pulse Point is now live for Elizabeth Fire. Department members can use it as an additional incident notification app, although right now notifications seem to be delayed coming through so I'll be working with them and dispatch to try and speed that up. Our community can also use the app to follow the department and see calls we're running, in addition to receiving "CPR Needed" notifications, and public AED locations in our district.
• Zach Tyler and Kurtis Echer have been approved department funding for paramedic school. Kurtis is currently in school, and Zach will be starting in January. We have submitted another CREATE grant to cover 50% of the cost, which allows us to stretch out budget and hopefully send more members to school in 2026.
• Huge thanks to Paramedic/FF Reggie Hyatt who accepted a temporary full-time position to cover one of our current paramedic vacancies. We will be interviewing applicants in October to fill these positions.

EMS Calls (excluding "no patient"):

• Sept. 2024 = 80 (51 Transports/64%)
• Sept. 2025 = 82 (55 Transports/67%)

Photo of the crews helping to roast green chilies as part of the Chili Cookoff - a fundraiser for the Elizabeth Firefighters Community Foundation

Photos of crews at a live burn training

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 September.

This month, we highlighted Lieutenant Nate Einarsen, Part-Time Firefighter EMT Jordan Burton, Reserve Firefighter EMT Jeffrey Kaczor, and Part-Time Firefighter EMT Kurt Echer!