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I feel that the cost of fire equipment, over the life of the equipment, is more cost effective than the cost of a paid fire department per year.
I agree with you Glen that it all should be balanced and in a meaningful way. What was said to me was NOT balanced and a direct attack on me. This is not the first time I have had this happen on here. If you remember correctly. For someone to say they need to take up a collection and send me on vacation is NOT kosher. It will be dropped now since I have said what I want too. I support you and all you do and all the departments who make a difference in this community.
i agree strive you have a right to feel how you feel. if this is how you can express yourself then so be it. by the look of everything on this web site you are better off expressing it hear because if you say anything to anyone who knows how they would take it and turn it against someone.
no one is perfect and im sure most in this town have said something about someone at some point when they have been mad about something they did. there has been talk about infighting between the fire and rescue but it seems like some towns people just like to pin them against each other anyhow. they may not all get along and that is just how it is but they are all volunteers and i think we should honor them for what they do for us. how else are they suppose to go to a call when toned out if they dont have lights on how are they to know if it is a frivolous call or not. i would hope that if i need fire or rescue to come to my house that they would have the lights going and people would get out of the way because what some may think is frivolous may not be to someone else.
i dont agree with everything i see that the fire department wantes all the time or rescue but when i comes time to vote i decide what i think is best then . they are all tax payers so why would they want to pay more in taxes for something that they think the town didnt need.
i would hope that if the fire department could not get a new truck that the one we have are in working order same with the rescue equipment.
i have always told my kids you may not like everyone but you still have to nice to them you dont have to be friends but you treat them how you would like to be treated kind of hard to tell them that when all this is going on in town and you dont know who you can trust and who could turn what you say into something that it doesnt real mean.
I think we need to start a Capital Improvement Plan and come to the realization that someday down the road we will need a new fire truck\ambulance etc. This will allow us to put aside a small chunk of money each year to save towards these big purchases.
I don’t see a need for a new truck. I have yet to see any justification anywhere to why we need a new fire truck at this point in time.
With a failing economy and a lot of people out of work we should be looking for ways to cut costs. We shouldn’t be looking to buy new equipment that isn’t needed.
Again, this all boils down to having Selectmen that push to improve our current form of government. Improve processes, create processes, improve our town. Don’t grow the government. Elect men\women that will work smarter.
I agree I think we should set aside money each year and in 5-6 years buy a new fire truck. I don’t think we need anything fancy, just something that functions and does what we need it to.
I saw in the Sanford News the fire log. It says they had 2 building fires this month, but the fire department website says only 1 all year?? Is this a way to try to mislead the numbers? Why is there a discrepency?
Jenn, and all-
There have been proposals on the warrant to start an equipment fund a couple times that I can remember. It has been the will of the voters to vote it down.
The fire log stats that you see in the paper are provided by Chief Wood, and are generated by our incident reports. After each call, the officer in charge of the incident files a report using a standard template that is common throughout the fire service. The reports are overseen by the Chief, and at some point are forwarded to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, and these are the official record of our actions. Each report is coded by type of incident, and can only be coded once, even if the incident required more than one type of action to resolve. This prevents our call volume from being inflated by applying multiple codes to the same call. For example, if a building is struck by lightning and goes on fire, it can be coded as either a lightning strike, or a building fire, but not both. There are other areas of the report coding that allow for greater detail of actions taken, situational details, and so on.
As for the web site, it is maintained on a volunteer basis by one of our firefighters in his spare time. His information comes from the Chief, but your post points out a weakness that we need to try to correct. Bottom line is that the statistics in the papers that are provided by Chief Wood reflect the official record for that month.
Eric Neubert
Deputy Chief
Lebanon Fire Dept
Maybe they could provide the locations for these building fires? I looked again and couldn’t find any building fires on Fosters or on the Lebanon Fire website which says it was just updated? That way when we see these two building fires, it will prove they weren’t trying to deceive us to get a new truck?? Not the exact address, but maybe the street and date? No harm there!
Former member,
that sounds like a reasonable request, hopefully they can tell us where these two building fires were and we can all rest assurred that there was no deception!! I noticed its been a couple days, maybe they haven’t logged on? Its nice to see they are looking at the website though!
I also did not see anything in Fosters for any building fires in Lebanon. I also looked at the rescue chiefs report and I didn’t see any fire stand bys, which they respond to all building fires. So HOPEFULLY, the FD can clear this up!!
This is so typical. Good ol’boy record keeping at its best. Something I have been saying over and over again. It all looks good on the surface until you start researching it………………..I don’t want to think the worst about things, but I can tell you from dealing with records for the past several years its just how it is here in Lebanon.
could it be the other fire call was a mutual aid to another town?why complain about a group of volunteers who do the job no one else wants? sometimes the ones who help the most get recognized the least (fire and rescue department).compare these two budgets to other towns and you’d see a signifigant difference in costs.pay a full time paramedic and one firefighter and our taxes will skyrocket.put yourself in a firefighters boots and why would you volunteer for Lebanon??must be for the couple hundred dollar stiped they get that doesn’t even cover their gas !!
Personally I am not complaining about the firefighters or any other volunteers that our town has. I think they do a marvelous job. I am making a statement about the paper work.
I think ALL volunteers should be commended for the job that they do.
The two building fires in October were both mutual aid to other towns- one to North Berwick, and one to Acton. You will not find an accurate record of the Fire Department’s activities either in Foster’s or in the Rescue Chief’s report. The numbers reported to the columnist by Chief Wood are what they are, and they are the same that are reflected in the reports that he submits to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, and later on in the town report. If you will look further up this thread you will find more information about how an incident report is generated.
Eric Neubert
Deputy Chief
Lebanon Fire Dept
I do find it very funny that every other month it says mutual aid in the Fosters monthly report, but now all of a sudden it says “Building Fire”
One may ask what the difference is?
One is asking for a truck to either go sit at their station or go to help at the scene. The other requires all available manpower and trucks.
It does seem kinda strange that every other month they report it as mutual aid, but now that they are going for a new truck, its a building fire!!!! Kinda deceiving in my eyes, but I am only one opinion!! I wonder why the fire chief reported to the columunist that they were building fires like Erik stated and not mutual aid like every other month????
I still haven’t seen or heard of any real justification why a new truck is needed. Now all I see\read is we had a couple mutual aid calls and that is what the FD is using to warrant their potential new truck? Let’s see some facts & figures please!
I agree Chris, I have seen nothing or heard any reasons besides when they told me they need it to go to Sanford and Rochester. How many times do all 7 vehicles get used? (8 if you include the boat) How many people average ride on the truck? Why do they need to spend over 100k for a special front when a normal one would do ok? Why are they skewing the call stats?
Chris G, I agree, our volunteers are great. I dont my taxes to skyrocket for a truck that is used once a month.
I’m not trying to belittle our volunteers or anything of that nature. Why all the conjecture about the fire truck, if we are going to be able to vote on it? It’s simple enough for me, the fire department has 7 plus a boat? Why do they need another truck, when the rescue can’t even get a vote in for their ambulance. I just don’t understand…….
If they have 8 vehicles, why do they need another one?? And some ignorant people think we do not need a 2nd ambulance when they have triple the calls??
Go back to Sanford!!!
LMAO Jenn!!
I agree