Fire chief responds to allegations

March 21, 2017

By Tony Rohrwasser Fire Chief South Boundary Fire Protection District I am following up on the letter (Don't be fooled by county-wide fire district) that was sent out with all of the misinformation regarding Fire and EMS in Boundary County. There was a meeting on March 13 at the North bench Fire Station, this was their regular monthly meeting that was posted outside of their station as required. The agenda posted had a line under “New Business” titled "1 Initial consideration of consolidation of area agencies." I was invited to speak at the meeting regarding trying to get the North Bench Board and Firefighters and the South Boundary Commissioners and Firefighters to come together in a neutral location and discuss the option of joining forces. It was stated that this meeting would be an information sharing and question and answer session between the two agencies to look at how this would work and is it even something we would like and decide to bring to the public. This meeting will take place this Thursday, March 23, at the U of I Extension office behind the courthouse in Bonners Ferry at 6:30 p.m. This meeting is open to the public but no public comment will be accepted. As I mentioned, the purpose of this meeting is to discuss options and allow current board members and firefighters the ability to voice their opinions and ask questions. If at the close of the meeting the two agencies decide it is worth looking into, there will be meetings set up to get public input from those in the areas involved and education on the process of annexation of territory. There is nothing secret regarding these meetings or this process. I have heard there are many questions but none have made it to me. My job is to run a fire district and to do the best I can to protect the residents of our district. I am always available to answer any questions or to justify any actions or proposed actions since prevention is a big part of what we do. Please don’t hesitate to call text, or email me.