Timberline Fire Protection District (TFPD) Board of Directors (BOD) held a regular meeting on May 14 at Station 3 to discuss the Congressionally-directed Spending USDA grant for Station 3 Fire Bays.

Two truckloads of gravel were removed from Station 3’s roof in the roof repair process.

The apparatus bay’s concrete floor at Station 5 has deteriorated, failing where water collects as a result of the absence of floor drains. This makes it challenging to clean and maintain the apparatus and bunker gear, especially during cold weather. A bid of $50,000 from Quality Design Construction proposes a solution, having previously completed several projects for TFPD.

The bid includes the installation of a buried waterline, a new 6-inch thick concrete floor with rebar and trench-style drains, and a new walkway and a drainage system similar to that at Station 8.

Current funds of $97,843 are available. This project will reduce this balance to $47,843. Post-project, $20,000 will fund a generator at Station 1, leaving a balance of $27,843 in the capital account.

The bid was approved.

Chief’s Report:

Under Operations, he reported that the firefighters responded to 47 calls in April. “We were extremely busy during the second windstorm, with about 13 calls over 18 hours,” he noted. “We’ve been very busy; between the wind and summer approaching, the mitigation phone has been crazy.”

Regarding Wildland/Mitigation, he reported that “We have received 30% of our budgeted mitigation revenues and have booked close to 100%. We are cleaning up blown-down trees on some of our prior Gilpin County projects.

“AmeriCorps mitigation assistant Jen Lomeli is a local Gilpin resident at no cost to the district. We have three additional assistants working regular hours. Five of our mitigation workers are certified wildland firefighters! One of our primary goals for this program was to have additional resources available at little to no cost during high fire danger.”

Speaking of facilities, he said that Station 7 garage doors are complete, and all the bays are back in service.

As far as Administration is concerned, he reported that the district received $167,251 in state backfill money, with a budgeted $92,784. Website rebuild is in process and Chief Hinderman has two meetings with webmasters tomorrow.

They are planning to bring a consent agenda item for Station 1 Generator next month, in the amount of approximately $40,000.

Meanwhile, Admin is “trying to wrap our heads around” SB 24-233, Prop 50, and new executive session rules. They are also working through the USDA application process for the CDS Grant for Station 3. And, the Gilpin CWPP meeting was held there at Station 3 all day On May 13.

Regarding training, burn building was Saturday, May 11, in Boulder. 25 firefighters attended, many JPRs signed off. The first day of the 4-day onboarding academy is May 25, while the 130/190 field day is the weekend of May 18-19.

All members have completed RT130, and all CPR renewals are on track.

The Chief met with the Red Rocks advisory board last week, discussing their program and rural agency needs.

Currently, the District has 10 people interested for the next volunteer hiring process in September.

There will be an Open House at Station 1 on June 18, planned for 5-7 p.m. with the BOD meeting to follow. There will be a board workshop held at Station 3 on June 12 at 12:30 p.m. to discuss Board Policies and a regular meeting on June 18 at 7 p.m. at Station 1, located at 5927 Magnolia Road, with an open house from 5 to 7 p.m