Glide Rural Fire Protection District

The Glide Rural Fire Protection District at their last board meeting decided to hire Group Mackenzie as an outside consulting firm to prepare a

Fire Station Needs Assessment. The primary objectives of  the needs assessment will be to ….

Evaluate conditions of the existing structure.

Complete space needs analysis for 20 year growth.

Evaluate remodel, expansion, and new construction options and make a recommendation to best meet

essential facility and future growth requirements.

Develop concept designs and prepare cost estimates.

As part of this needs Group Mackenzie will be conducting community meetings to gather input.  Community
participation is encouraged in this and all meetings concerning the future of Glide Fire.  If you have any questions,
concerns, or ideas please drop me an e-mail and I would be happy to answer.

Dan Tilson

Fire Chief

2201@glidefire.org

The first reaction of many is to blame the fire department when in fact we do not set your insurance ratings.  Most insurers use ratings that are set by ISO ( Insurance Services Office) a national organization that rates fire
departments.  Glide Fire currently has the following ISO rating schedule.

5- if you are within 5 road miles from the station AND 1,000 feet from a hydrant.

8B – if you are within 5 road miles from the station.

10 – if you are more than 5 miles from the station.

This schedule has changed over the last few years.  In Oregon,
ISO and the State for many years considered over 5 miles up to 10 miles a class
9.  Several years ago the rules were changed to bring Oregon
in line with most other states where the limits were set at 5 miles.  Because of these changes insurance companies are reclassifying properties from a 9 to a 10 and as a result insurance rates
have gone up.  At the station we are getting several calls a week about fire insurance and what our  ISO ratings are.  Insurance companies are also looking more closely to make sure that your property is IN THE FIRE DISTRICT.  We do have some properties that are within the 5 mile distance, however are not in the Fire District.  These properties some times are being reclassified to class 10 or property owners are being denied insurance because they are outside a fire district.  So what can you do?  First if you are within
the five mile distance and you are outside the fire district, annex into the  district.  Second if you are in the 5-10
mile distance and still in the district shop around to find a company that will look at your location and what kind of water the department carries, and consider basing your rates on this information and not just the ISO
rating.  If you need help with letters, or talking to the insurance broker please contact us, as we have a good track record of working with agents.

Dan Tilson

Fire Chief

As we move forward with plans for providing the best service possible for the citizens of Glide, we continue to look at our current facilities and little has changed in the year since our last bond measure.  We are still short on office space.  Our training space is not adequate, a water tender still sits outside and we have no sleeping quarters.  However all this does not mean we are not moving forward.  Over the last few months we have been looking at alternatives, including a building remodel with an addition for the truck bays, and a possible less expensive alternative to a new building.  In order to help temporally solve some of our more pressing problems we have purchased a larger office trailer to house all of our office staff.  This will allow us to change back the current office into sleeping quarters for a few volunteers and provide night time coverage for part of the week.  We also have several new volunteers that we are currently training to the entry firefighter level and we have just finished a 40 hour medical first responder course adding nine new medical personal to our rosters.  Our volunteers continue to be a dedicated group of individuals that donate hundreds of hours a week to the community of Glide.  When you see them around the community take a minute to thank them for the service they provide. 

Our LITTLE fire station continues to be a very busy place.  The citizens of Glide are currently getting a top notch fire department at a bargain basement price.  The current tax rate for Glide Fire is $1.0708 per thousand of taxed value.  This is the 18^th lowest tax rate for the 26 fire districts in Douglas County according to the Douglas County Assessors Office.  At the same time if we look at the real market value of all the property in the district, Glide Fire has the fourth largest real market value of the fire districts listed on the assessor’s web site.  This information combined with information from the State Fire Marshals office shows Glide Rural Fire Protection District responding to 414 calls last year (they missed 5 calls we actually responded to 419 calls).  This puts us in 5^th place for the county behind Winston Dillard, Sutherlin, Douglas County Fire District #2, and Roseburg city.  This makes Glide Fire the busiest volunteer fire department in the county.  Yes we are a very busy station.  If you have any questions about the fire district please feel free to contact me at 2201@glidefire.org

Dan Tilson

Fire Chief

In the wake of the last bond measure failure a new citizen group has been formed.  The Glide Rural Fire Protection District Citizen Advisory Group has been formed and held their first meeting August 31^st. 

The Citizens Advisory Group is a volunteer organization that supports the Glide Rural Fire Protection District by assisting the Board of Directors in maintaining a skilled and vibrant local firefighting and emergency medical presence and capability.

The need for this group was initially recognized by the Board of Directors and concerned citizens of the area serviced by GRFPD during discussions dealing with requirements for a new fire station.  During these discussions, it became apparent that the voters, citizens, and property owners of the GRFPD wish to maintain a robust and cost effective fire and emergency services capability.  However, aging facilities and equipment as well as reduced availability of an all volunteer staff poses a severe threat to the future viability of our current excellent capability.

The additional resources supplied by the Citizens Advisory Group will supplement the activities of the GRFPD staff and directors to define and investigate alternatives, acquire information and inform the community.

Membership in the Citizens Advisory Group is open to all owners of real property located within the GRFPD.

After much discussion among the fire district officers and the Board of Directors it has been decided to look at what the district needs to continue our current level of service. The new station will provide for our current needs, however will not provide for much future growth. The new design eliminates two engine bays and some storage area along with office space and community rooms. The total reduction is over 3,000 square feet resulting in a new station of about 13,000 square feet. This results in an estimated savings to the district of over $575,000. With this reduction, along with lower building costs, it is our hope that we will be able to reduce the building costs to 2.95 million. A new floor plan is being prepared that will enable us to obtain a new concept bid. We will continue to look for and apply for grants to further reduce the costs to the taxpayer. We hope to have building costs and tax rate information by February so we can start to have community meetings to discuss the plan. If you have any questions please stop by or give us a call.

From reading the many suggestions and comments it was evident that we need to get more information out about the new building for the fire district and our current needs. Many people felt that the current building was OK and we should just remodel.  This was also the first option that we looked at almost 10 years ago.  At that time the cost was close to 1.0 million to add bays and a training room. It did not include many of the features of the new station including sleeping quarters, storage or enough office space.  It also did not include room for future growth.  It was decided at that time that it was not in the best interest of the district to remodel and out of date building that already had been added onto four times.  Since that time we have not revisited this idea, however we still feel that a newer building that will serve the district into the future is in the best interest of the district patrons.

After the defeat of our bond levy last November we conducted a mail survey asking voters several questions about the bond levy and the future of the fire district.  We sent out questionnaires to every household in the district and received a little over 20% response.  Of those that responded 74% thought that we needed a new station and 96% wanted us to continue the same service that we currently provide.  When asked if they have ever needed the services of the fire department 38% said yes.  Of those that returned their postcards 49% said that they would support the original 3.85 million levy, however 59% would support a lower levy of 3.5 million.  73% did not want a higher per thousand rate and 62% felt that we should not put plans on hold.  As for why people voted the way they did we had a wide variety  of answers, however most centered around the bad economy and higher taxes. Many people felt that the building we were asking for was too large and wanted to see us downsize, or leave parts unfinished.

The Glide Fire District finished paying for the $275,000 bond that was passed by voters in 1999.  This bond was used to purchase a new 2000 Pierce fire engine.  During the repayment period the fire district refunded more than $10,000 in funds that were not needed for the purchase of the fire engine, resulting in a lower tax rate for district patrons.  In making the final payment on these bonds district patrons should see their combined tax rate reduced by almost $0.16 per thousand of assessed value.