they were impacted. Our budget will be pretty lean this year. We will make a big effort to replace
our aging, and soon to be at their maximum life expectancy, inventory of SCBA’s. We are hoping that Captain Bellona can work some grant magic for this very costly
replacement. We will be receiving a new Type I Engine and will be relocating others to maximize their life expectance and more importantly their capabilities. The same
holds true for our ambulances. We hope to order a new ambulance soon and retire one of our older units. As everyone should know, of all our apparatus, our ambulances get
used the most.
In the area of training, we will be kicking off some significant changes in the entire ELF Program. The approach will be more of an “academy” approach and
extend the training out over a longer period of time, freeing up some weekends and every Sunday for those who attend. While challenging at best, we need to do what we
can to perpetuate the volunteer program.
Our wildland fire season will be like most. We will hopefully once again be able to bring on a full contingent of seasonal firefighters and meet the wildland
firefighting demands in both the interface and non-interface areas of the district.
You will see more regionalization of services. We are working towards regional training academies and fire officer training. We are looking at some regional
standardization of equipment, SCBA’s in particular. Captain Taylor has worked hard with his counterparts to create a more regional approach to fire investigation and
information sharing. We already have our award winning “boundary drop zone” with Carson City and will be bringing forward the same concept with Tahoe Douglas very soon.
