Background
The Hot Sulphur Springs/ Parshall Fire Protection District is a Special District responsible for fire and rescue services within the district boundaries in central Grand County. Occasionally the District is paged by Grand County Dispatch to respond to the Williams Fork Valley for incidents, an area that is in “No Man’s Land”, not under the protection of any fire/ rescue services. The District bills for services in the area with varying degrees of success in collection for those fees.
Over the years, several property owners in the Williams Fork Valley have asked about the possibility of being included into the District. While the District has believed that the area should be under some sort of Fire Protection, the District has not been interested in including small parcels of land a piece at a time. In 2013 the Board of Directors decided to investigate the possibility of bringing in the Williams Fork into the District as a whole, or in significant portions, as to allow for an investment and improvement to fire/ rescue services in the area, as well as the existing District. The District has prioritized this study for 2014.
Process
In 2013, The District had three potential boundary proposals drawn up for discussion purposes. Each potential boundary had a corresponding assessed value as assessed by the county assessor. In March of 2014, the District scheduled a public meeting for April 19th,2014 and sent mailings to each mailing address of property owners in the boundary area of the largest boundary area. The mailings included a brief history of the district and possible inclusion, an invitation to the public meeting, directed them to the District Web site for additional information, and invited each property owner to comment on the possibility of an inclusion by phone, mail, email, form submittal via website, or meeting attendance. Additional letters were sent to the adjacent fire protection districts, Grand County, the Colorado State Forest Service, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Grand County Sherriff’s Office, Grand County EMS, the Henderson Mill manager, and the Henderson Mill Safety Manager , and the county manager.
A public input meeting was conducted on April 19th, and public input was accepted until May 12th. The District Board of Directors and firefighters met on May 12th to review the comments received to that date, and to make a decision on whether or not to move forward to the next step and build a service plan for the area, prioritize projects for the area, finalize boundaries, and ask for further public input.
Response/ Feedback
Hot Sulphur Springs/ Parshall Fire Protection District mailed 164 letters to property owners and emailed or contacted by phone an additional 8 public land managers, public safety agencies, and various departments of Grand County.
The public meeting was attended by 23 people. Additionally phone calls were received from 7 property owners, emails from 7 property owners, and website comment submissions from 5 property owners, totaling contact with 42 property owners, or 26 %. No comments were received by mail. Several Property owners indicated that they represented several property owner in their area.
Additionally, input was solicited and received from Kremmling Fire Protection District, Grand Fire Protection District, Lake Dillon Fire Protection District, Grand County Commissioner Gary Baumgartner, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management,as well as Grand County Sherriff’s office, Grand County EMS.
Conclusions
With one exception, all comments represented property owners that either wanted to learn more, or were in favor of being included in the district. Geographically, comments received represented property owners throughout the proposed inclusion areas. Demographically, responses represented a wide variety of property owners, including ranches, second homeowners, and full time residents.
Primary concerns included:
Property Owners having harder time insuring property/ increased premiums
Property Owners concerned whether or not they will get a response from the fire district and/ or concerned about current response times of the department under current situation
Property Owners were curious about final boundaries of the District
Property Owners were curious about taxes/ costs.
Property Owners were curious how the Henderson Mill played into the proposal and what their opinion was.
The public safety organizations contacted all supported the idea of an inclusion of the area into a fire district. Kremmling and Grand Fire Protection Districts indicated they would support the inclusion and honor existing mutual aid agreements to the Fire District. Lake Dillon FPD indicated that they would be willing to formalize a mutual aid agreement in the area.
Proposal
Hot Sulphur Springs/ Parshall Fire Protection District Board of Directors has met and reviewed the comments collected from the Property Owners, Public Safety organizations, and County and Federal Agencies. The Board also reviewed projected budgets and projects for each of the proposed boundary options, and has revised the proposed Area of Inclusion and prioritized a series of projects to improve coverage both to the proposed area of inclusion, as well as the existing District.
Boundary- based on input, the Board has revised the boundary of the Proposed Inclusion to include all of the private property in the Williams Fork Valley, minimize the amount of US Forest Service property within the proposed area, and includes much of the Bureau of Land Management properties, largely due to the patchwork nature, and the fact most of the BLM properties are surrounded by private.
Phase 1 projects- The District would commit to Prioritizing and completing these Projects in the first five to seven years.
Water Supply Projects- The Board of Directors has prioritized 3 water supply projects for fire suppression. The addition of 30,000 gallons of water storage on the District’s properties in Copper Creek, and Par shall, and 30,000 gallons and land purchase in the Aspen Canyon area will improve suppression capabilities for both structure and wild land fires throughout the valley.
Communication Projects- Improvements have recently been made in digital radio communications in the Valley, but improvements still need to be made in VHF paging and tactical frequencies. The District will prioritize VHF repeaters in the southern part of the valley.
Replace existing station in Parshall- the District would replace the existing structure in Parshall (originally built in 1929) with a new station large enough to accommodate a modern engine and additional water tender. The current station has limitations on the size and number of apparatus as well as being prone to repairs and limited on existing utilities.
Replace existing structure engine in Parshall- replace the existing 1985 two seat engine with a new or late model used engine capable of carrying a larger crew, but more appropriate to the rural area with narrow, steep, winding roads.
Replace existing Type 3 engine in Hot Sulphur- The current 1982 engine in Hot Sulphur would be replaces with a new engine capable of carrying a larger crew, geared for structure protection during wildland fire, and structural fire fighting in the harder to reach areas.
Put new Type 6 engine in service in Hot Sulphur- The District does not currently maintain a Type 6 engine ( pick up truck with small tank and pump for wild fire), but would put one in service for faster response to wild fires through out the new district.
Put new Tactical Water Tender in Service in Parshall- The district currently owns one tender for transporting additional water to fire scenes. A new tender would be put in service to serve the Parshall and Williams Fork area and decrease response times to get additional water on scene.
Recruitment Effort- the District recognizes that additional equipment and facilities are of little use without the properly trained staff to operate them. The District will prioritize recruitment and training efforts in the Williams Fork Valley in an effort to decrease response times and create a more effective response.
Auto Aid Agreement- The District acknowledges that some portions of the new District can potentially be served faster from a response out of Kremmling, due to geography or road conditions and would pursue an Auto Aid agreement with Kremmling Fire Protection District. The Auto Aid area would likely Cover areas South and West of William’s Fork Reservoir in the new district boundaries, and cover areas North and East of Williams Fork Reservoir and Hwy 40 in Kremmling FPD’s current district. The Auto Aid agreement would ensure that resources from both departments would be dispatched immediately on the initial 911 call improving not just initial response times, but also improving the number of qualified personnel on scene.
Possible Phase 2 Projects- After initial projects are complete, the District would reassess prioritize an additional set of projects based on volunteer firefighter membership, budget constraints, and assessed needs. Possible projects could include Substations and Apparatus for the Aspen Canyon or Copper Creek area, resident programs or limited or seasonal staffing.
Hot Sulphur Springs/ Parshall Fire Protection District
PO Box 45, Hot Sulphur Springs, Co 80451