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Commissioners discontinue funding for Salem Fire Dept., start looking for alternatives

7 mins read

FARMINGTON – Tuesday afternoon, the Franklin County Commissioners voted unanimously to discontinue funding for the Salem Fire Department effective July 1, 2023.

While Salem Fire is located in the unorganized territories in Franklin County, the department is not a part of the county offices. Instead, Salem Fire is an independent department that provides contracted fire protection services in Salem Township. Following a series of meetings over the span of several months with the Salem Fire Department, neighboring departments, and other stakeholders, County Administrator Amy Bernard recommended to the board of commissioners that the county no longer fund Salem Fire.

Bernard said that she requested documentation from Salem Fire that showed training records for the past two years; a complete roster of the firefighters on the department and the level of training or certification each firefighter held; and insurance documentation and vehicle registration. She has been asking for this information since June.

At a meeting Monday, Bernard said Salem Fire provided her with a copy of the worker’s compensation insurance policy and the property and casualty liability insurance. The other documentation was not provided.

Bernard said she has been told since June that Salem Fire has completed the Maine State mandatory trainings with their firefighters, but at the meeting Monday it came out that they had not done the trainings. The department is currently working to complete the trainings, Bernard said, since they were told they would lose county funding without it.

In addition, the fire trucks are not inspected or registered, which Bernard identified as a liability both for safety and for legal reasons.

The county commissioners voted unanimous to discontinue funding for the department effective July 1, 2023.

The next steps, Bernard said, are to approach the three neighboring departments – Kingfield, Phillips, and Strong – to determine their willingness and capability to add Salem Township to their coverage area. This will require conversations with the fire chiefs and the select boards for each town.

The commissioners directed Bernard to arrange a meeting with the towns. Due to Mount Abram High School’s location in Salem Township, MSAD 58 will be impacted by this decision and the commissioners expressed interest in including the school district in the conversations moving forward.

There are a number of unknown factors to this as the county moves forward. One additional issue that came to light recently is that the contracts for the municipal departments explicitly state the departments will provide structure fire services in the unorganized territories. However, as the fire service has evolved, departments have taken on more and more aspects of public health and safety. Fire departments respond to motor vehicle crashes, lost hikers, snowmobile crashes, medical emergencies, and downed power lines and trees in the roads, in addition to actual firefighting. Due to the language in the contracts, Strong Fire Chief Duayne Boyd shared concerns with the commissioners about the potential liability for his and other departments as they provide services above and beyond what the contract allows for.

This issue is complex; Bernard has gotten differing answers from the State of Maine in regards to the contract. The unorganized territories are partly regulated by the State Legislature so there is a concern that changes to the contract may need to be approved by the legislature, which will take months. At the same time, Bernard said that the UT cannot be without the additional services provided by the fire departments, as it is a public safety issue.

The cost of providing fire protection services is also increasing, which is a piece of this puzzle that has to be resolved. Strong and Eustis both requested a significant increase for contracted fire services, the commissioners noted during their review of the UT budget for the upcoming year. Strong has reportedly requested nearly three times the funding for fire protection services in Freeman Township and West Freeman; that increase was without the possible increased cost of Salem Township coverage added into the mix.

Most departments that provide contracted services for the county requested an increase of about $5,000, Bernard said, and provided documentation and justification for the increases. Some of the factors included property valuation, population density, and number of buildings in the coverage area. Other departments requested no increase.

Part of the justification that Strong offered was to add to the fire station reserve fund; Bernard had some concerns about that reasoning as the UT is not responsible for the station in Strong. Strong would require a fire station whether or not they provided contracted services in the UT, Bernard said.

The factors used to determine the cost of services for the UT differs by town and is dependent partly on the resources each town has. Rangeley has a complex system for their determination, including population density, number of structures, and other factors, but they also have staff who can develop that type of system. Other towns may not have those resources. There is no consistent formula for determining the cost of services at this time.

In the near future a public meeting with the commissioners, town select boards, and fire chiefs will be held to discuss how best to serve Salem Township. The date, time, and location of the meeting has not been established.

The commissioners will hold a public hearing on the UT budget following their regular meeting at 2 p.m. on November 1, 2022. The public hearing will be held immediately after the regular meeting ends, so there is no set time frame.

Bernard hopes to have updated figures for fire protection services and other UT budget items at that time.

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