The Nederland Fire Protection District Board of Directors (NFPD) met on Wednesday February 21, 2024, at 7 p.m. to hear updates on recent inspections of Nederland’s schools, to review a template for a Fire Chief performance evaluation, and to discuss the process for how and when the evaluation should be conducted.

Fire Chief Charlie Schmidtmann’s report listed the calls of significance that the Nederland Fire Department (NFD) responded to from late January to early February.

Firefighters and EMS responded to several vehicle crashes in Boulder Canyon, as well as a head-on collision on the Nederland bridge at the intersection of 1st Street and Highway 119 that caused intense traffic backup for a short time. The accident was cleared and the bridge made accessible for normal traffic flow within 30 minutes.

The NFD also responded to a patient who was suffering an adverse reaction to having intentionally injected toad venom and was required to be flown to a Denver hospital.

Schmidtmann’s report indicated the updates and repairs to the District’s stations and vehicles. A bay door has been fitted with a proper seal, LED lights have been ordered and received to replace the fire station’s high bay lights, and a gas leak at the fire station was repaired by Xcel Energy, who noted that the gas lines were improperly installed and which they will remedy.

Three new sets of bunker gear were received, and a cot and stair chair were ordered for the District’s new ambulance, paid for by an EMTS grant.

Snow from the last few storms was cleared from all the District’s fire stations; a plow truck pushed snow against a neighbor’s fence, requiring the fence to be pulled back into place using a winch.

Schmidtmann noted that he traveled to Bradenton, Florida, to confer with Pierce Manufacturing over the requirements for the final build of their new fire engine. Schmidtmann noted that by the time the order was finalized, the engine cost had gone up 21%, though luckily the price was “locked in” for the District when the contract was signed.

It was reported that three NFD recruits had completed Hazmat Academy, two recruits began Firefighter I training, and one firefighter is set to begin Firefighter II training soon. The newly created 2024 training calendar has 68 training courses scheduled, including an EMR class scheduled for April that is already full. The District is still waiting for a hospital to sponsor their EMT program.

Schmidtmann, along with Captains Nick Faes, Conor Moran, and Glen Wheelock, will attend Flight Paramedic Class in April; Captains Faes and Moran will also be attending a UTV Operator training in March. Schmidtmann also recently attended the first of five Chief Officer Training Curriculum classes at the National Fire Academy in Grand Junction.

Fire Marshal Andrew Joslin and Captain Wheelock, along with a local elevator engineer, are collaborating to create a Firefighter Elevator Operations course.

Joslin provided the Board with his report for late January/early February. Joslin revisited Nederland Middle Senior High School (NMSHS) for another inspection and reported that nearly all of their 54 previous violations had been resolved with only a few minor exceptions. Joslin gave thanks to head custodian Kurtis Smith for the fast and effective resolution.

The inspection of Nederland Elementary School yielded 25 violations; Joslin wrote that he was working with the school and with Boulder Valley School District and was hoping for the same successful result as he had from working with NMSHS.

Joslin’s report detailed how the District’s wildland capabilities are currently being listed and improved, which includes the development of a wildland worksheet template that is to be edited further and eventually to be tested in a group training scenario. Preliminary versions of a tactical wildland map were released; Joslin was excited that he would be able to review and “fine-tune” it.

Lucy Zamarripa, Human Resources for the NFPD, presented the Board with a template performance evaluation for the Fire Chief. The draft was created from the interview and hiring review process for Fire Chief, and consists of ten questions, comment boxes, and a place to indicate an overall performance rating.

An employee survey of all paid NFD staff and volunteers will be conducted and provided to the District to be used as a guiding document when completing the evaluation. The Fire Chief will also be expected to complete a self-evaluation and state their own goals, which the Board can use as a measure of the Chief’s performance.

Zamarripa reiterated that the purpose of the evaluation is to provide the Chief with feedback and to ensure the District is providing complete accountability of their actions. The performance evaluation was described by the Board as a “coaching tool.”

The NFPD is to review the draft and return to Zamarripa in a week with suggestions on the content of the performance evaluation.

The Indian Peaks Radio Club has reached out to Schmidtmann with a request for space in the fire station to conduct their monthly meetings. The club, which has run ham radio operations and emergency communications for several Town events, including Ned Gravel, Frozen Dead Guy Days, and NedFest, will be losing their current base of operations in the west wing of the Nederland Community Center while the wing goes under construction.

Schmidtmann recommended to the Board that they approve the request, suggesting that the station could easily accommodate the club with not just use of a room for a monthly meeting, but also with a table from which to conduct their radio operations.

The NFPD agreed with Schmidtmann’s recommendation and noted that the club’s communications coverage could assist the District in wildland scenarios. The District approved the request from Indian Peaks Radio Club.

The Nederland Fire Protection District Board of Directors meets on the third Wednesday of every month. Meetings can be attended online via Microsoft Teams. Their next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 7 p.m.

For more information go to: https://www.nfpd.org.