The Golden Gate Fire Protection District updated its mission, vision, and values during a regular meeting at the Grange on September 21, 2003. They also revised their organizational chart. Present were Deb Curlee, President; Niffy Ovuworie, Vice-President; Dave Primmer, and Steve Green.

Firefighters worked to update the mission statement for the district and to provide exceptional fire protection and care for the community. It includes four core values, and every firefighter has signed it.

Chief Benson reported that “Our mission, vision and values meeting was also a fantastic success…. We had an inspiring amount of participation from our volunteer staff during the exercise and believe we have captured the epitome of what it means to be The Golden Gate Fire Protection District.” The re-cast vision was shared as an agenda item in the Board meeting.

GOLDEN GATE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT

OUR MISSION: Provide exceptional fire, emergency medical, and all-hazards response as well as risk reduction and community education.

OUR VISION: Care for the community, the environment, and each other by continually answering the call.

OUR VALUES: We choose to serve our community with:

• Professionalism

• Dedication

• Integrity

• Compassion.

The Board approved a motion to adopt the statement and said it was incredible to see the firefighters come together.

The Board revisited the organizational chart with the Board at the top, then the Fire Chief. Then it branches into three divisions: Operations Division; one Lieutenant in charge; a Support Services Division, a bookkeeper. Two positions on the chart not filled are Family Information Officer and Public Information Officer.

The district’s digital documentation software for emergency reporting will sunset next year.The district is working with ESO. After talking to ESO, they have come back with a better bid. It will provide a higher level of documentation and removes redundancy. The bid has gone from $4,332 per year to $3,400, a decrease of $1,000 per year.

The system is used among their peers and is the most widely used on the front range. It provides a great accumulation of data, and doctors can do their own follow-up with the system.

They would not start implementation until January. The Board approved a motion to adopt, with one Board member voting against it.

Regional/County Chief Benson reported that he continues to work with Ember Alliance on our portion of the County CWPP. GGFPD is currently working on a GIS project with Jefferson County that will lead to the creation of new planning and evacuation units within the fire district.

“The Administration Station 83 ‘Community Clean Up, Clean Out and Touch a Truck’ was a great success. A big thank you to the firefighters, auxiliary members and community members that helped make all our station clean out events successful this summer,” Benson reported.

“Summer is beginning to draw down, with weather cooling and parks remaining active and interesting. Relatively warmer and clearer days have increased traffic and usage of roads.

This has corresponded with an increase in calls relative to the summer so far. The trend this year of notably fewer wildland fires (either lightning or human-caused) as well as fewer heat-caused incidents is holding, as we have had no fires since the Bear Fire,” Benson reported.

“As of September 18, we have run 70 calls. In the past month we have had one notable park rescue at Centennial Cone requiring helicopter evacuation of a mountain biker who was injured in the middle to center of the park,” Benson reported.

“We are proud to announce Rescue 82 is in service after work by a number of firefighters and has already run a half dozen or so calls. This apparatus is a unique and optimized tool for responding to incidents in the GGFPD, as it runs with a short wheelbase, crew cab, and enclosed storage space for equipment.

“Its loadout emphasizes backcountry and rope rescue activities and is fully outfitted to perform response and management of these incidents at a class-leading level. Our thanks to the Golden Gate Auxiliary for funding the nearly $12,000 in equipment that makes this such a valuable asset for our district in providing a high-quality response to users of our parks or those in more remote locations.

“We have a resident now at Station 82 (FF McDaniel) and having this resident at a station has helped drastically reduce turnout time and response times, particularly in the north portions of our District. We anticipate the benefits of this residency agreement growing stronger particularly into the winter season and look forward to making this as successful as possible. Concerns of paramedic coverage continue, with several shifts in recent weeks being down a medic,” Benson reported.

“Operations staff continues to monitor and track resource availability, although no circumstances have arisen, yet which require using contingency plans or mutual aid to cover. Staff additionally remains in communication with Golden Fire, Fairmount Fire, and Pleasant View fire as resource management discussions continue.”

Regarding personnel, 21 operational members and five support services members are currently on the roster. They have welcomed four new members into the operational ranks and lost one member due to a move out of state.

“Congratulations to FFs Nick Meyer and Peter Whiteneck who successfully graduated from the Golden Fire Academy in the end of August.”

The impact fee study group met on September 20 for a kickoff meeting with BBC research and consulting. According to the Treasurer’s Report, for the period covering August 2023, the District’s total expenditures were $18,018.66. For the period covering August 2023 the District collected revenue of $10,425.43.

The August 2023 Statement of Financial Position noted items of $458,935.86. The planned over-budget spending by Board Resolution will require line item reallocations.

The next regular Board Meeting will be on October 19, 2023, at 7 p.m. at Station 81, 32360 Robinson Hill Rd., Golden. Find out more at https://goldengatefire.org/