The Golden Gate Fire Protection District Board approved the Jeffco Wildland Fire Management IGA during a regular meeting on July 25, 2024 at the Grange. Board members present were Niffy Ovuworie, Vice-President and Treasurer, and Marith Reheis, Secretary. President Deb Curlee attended online, so Ovuworie ran the meeting. Dave Primmer and Steve Green arrived late.

Green asked that the question be added to the agenda as to whether a firefighter should be doing the books for the District.

Ovuworie opened the review and approval of the Jeffco Wildland Fire Management IGA and moved to approve the IGA. It had not been ready at the last meeting.

At the June meeting, Chief Kyle Benson introduced the Jeffco All Hazards IGA. This IGA outlines mutual aid and assistance and puts guidelines around what is mutual aid for all fire departments in Jefferson County. It needs approval by the Board.

According to the agreement, “This Agreement is intended to allow for mutual aid between the Parties whenever there is an urgent or potentially significant situation that threatens the general welfare and good order of the public, public health, public safety, or property, including but not limited to ‘Disasters,’ ‘State of Emergency,’ or ‘Local Emergency’ as those terms are defined.

“The Parties intend to authorize and provide the terms for their mutual assistance in an Emergency which requires resources in addition to those that can be provided by the Party in whose jurisdiction the Emergency occurs. Mutual assistance will be provided at the sole discretion of a responding party; this Agreement does not create an obligation to provide mutual assistance.”

On July 25, Green said that the IGA is not something you sit down and understand right away. Reheis said the County can approve it, and the Sheriff has operational command.

The Board approved the IGA with Green and Primmer voting nay.

Primmer introduced a contact for the Volunteer Firefighter Pension Fund.

Ovuworie said not being represented at the state meeting is a large concern to him. Primmer noted they have three people listed but GGFPD doesn’t qualify for the state match. It is self-funding.

Regarding Green’s question as to whether a firefighter should be doing the books, Ovuworie said that issue should be discussed in an executive session.

Ovuworie gave the Treasurer’s report. For the period covering June 2024, the District’s total expenditures were $17,284.81. A noted item was $2,000 for Artisan Custom Hardwood Floors.

For the period covering April 2024, the District collected revenue of $36,657. Total Bank Accounts came to $475,387.72.

Chief Benson reported that there have been several significant wildland fire events in Jefferson County in the last month. GGFPD is actively participating in mutual aid call availability through Jeffcom as well as the regional coordination group.

This system is still relatively new for our region; however, it is proving to be very efficient in coordinating available assets in events that have the possibility of rapid growth.

Lutheran Hospital is still on track to move into its new location at Clear Creek Crossing on August 3.

A new non-profit, free smartphone application called “firewatch” has been made available to the public for tracking wildland fires. It has proven to be a great public resource and is a great solution for anyone who is interested in receiving the most up to date information regarding wildland fires in our area.

ESO has gone live for the officers. We are currently running with both ESO and Emergency Reporting live as we go through the training phase with all officers and firefighters. The TAK (Team Awareness Kit) integration project hit a roadblock this month when discussing hardware compatibility with Firstnet/ATT and Jeffcom.

The hardware that was originally quoted for the project is not directly compatible with the Tritech CAD interface. Further quotes for compatible hardware are not within the capability of the budget.

Chief Enright is currently researching a CAD interface workaround with Jeffcom to be able to utilize hardware that is more reasonably priced or offset by Firstnet. “We want to ensure that any solution we move forward with is both 100 percent capable across all of our software systems and is also financially reasonable for the district’s budget,” Benson said.

Regarding grant updates, the BLM Community fire assistance grant with a 50 percent match on CWPP is awaiting decision. The SIPA grant for $5500 to fund a website update and ADA compliance is awaiting a decision in August or September.

The Firehouse Sub grant for $38,000 to fund the Hurst battery extrication tools is awaiting decision in October or November. DFPC Direct Distribution grant for full replacement of outdated Scott SCBAs/Bottles & Face pieces is awaiting decision in August or September.

Call volume has picked up significantly in July, with 55 incidents to date. One incident represents two simultaneous calls regarding lighting strikes in Robinson Hill and Guy Hill.

Two fire stops were within the district in July. One was a car fire on Golden Gate Canyon Road that was stopped before it became fully involved and spread to the wildland interface. The other was a small fire started by a lightning strike to a tree in the area of Guy Hill. GGFPD firefighters have also gone on standby for two expanding incidents within Jeffco. However, we were not deployed in that situation.

The District currently has 23 operational members and four support services members on the roster. Once the 2024 Academy is complete in August, the department will look at actively recruiting for 2025.

The Station 81 renovation is functionally complete. A few small finishes became more complicated than expected. However, the station quarters, training room, and office are fully operational. The final items should be completed by the end of the month, and the station will be ready to share with the community.

Station 82’s exterior doors have been repainted to match both station 81 and 83. All the exterior facades of the stations are now cohesive and shine with GGFPD pride. “A huge thank you to our volunteer painting crew who has put in countless days to help us with this project!”

Station 83’s drainage issues and potential resolution are being drafted by the engineer after their site visit. We will have the full engineer report at the August board meeting.

The next regular Board meeting and Pension Board will be on August 22 at 6:30 p.m. for the Pension Board and at 7 p.m. for the Board meeting at the Grange, 25231 Golden Gate Canyon Rd., Golden. For more information, go to https://MAIN - Golden Gate Fire Protection District.