KB Rasmussen, Board member, has been fostering a relationship with the county fire department. He developed the following strategic plan, which the county has agreed to. As you can see- there's quite a bit of work to get this together, and the plan identifies much more work to come.
#1 To provide
effective and cooperative planning, training, communication and firefighting
guidelines to fight fires on Bear Lake West POA properties.
Action Step 1.1: Establish procedures to assure adequate
water, appropriate caches of firefighting gear, call lists, contingency plans
for adding additional county firefighting units, contact procedures for calling
on US Forest Service and BLM resources.
Action Step 1.2: Hold an annual training exercise to evaluate
and upgrade timelines and procedures.
Action Step 1.3: Establish procedures to evacuate residents,
including call lists, evacuation routes, a door to door notification procedure
and a “help” crew to help with evacuation of elderly or medically challenged
residents.
#2 To
exercise and evaluate those guidelines on an annual basis and to provide a
mechanism for updates and improvements.
Action
Step 2.1: Hold the annual training exercise in a May-June timeframe of each
year.
Action Step 2.2: Hold a joint meeting with county
commissioners, fire commissioners, fire marshal, the POA board and POA
management after the exercise to correct problems, refine methods and
resources, and improve effectiveness.
#3 To
initiate procedures and methodologies for cooperation between the county and
other agencies, including call lists, equipment lists, and complete resources
lists.
Action
Step 3.1: Establish a
responsible parties list for the following:
· Annual attendance at a county commissioners
meeting by a representative of the POA board or its appointee.
· Annual attendance at a fire commissioners
meeting by a representative of the POA board or its appointee.
· Annual attendance of a POA board meeting by
county commissioners and fire commissioners.
· Regular contact by fire commissioners with
the US Forest Service and BLM.
#4 To initiate and establish a plan for the
education of POA residents and procedures for the sharing of information and
fire prevention guidelines including the following:
·
Evacuation
procedures and routes.
·
Call
lists.
·
Home
fire prevention education, including clearing brush and weeds away from
structures.
·
Training
for residents to help with fires.
·
Use of
the POA website, POA blog, mail lists, local newspapers and radio stations and
the annual meeting to initiate education and share information.
#5 To continue the work on creating an
emergency evacuation road.
Action Step 5.1: Continue to work with the county and “Seis
Ninos” landowners to develop
an emergency exit road for BLW POA and HOA residents.
Action Step 5.2: Schedule a meeting with Seis Ninos landowners.
#6 To work towards recruiting
additional volunteer firefighters.
