SEACOAST CHIEF FIRE OFFICERS MUTUAL AID DISTRICT

MINUTES OF MEETING OF MARCH 4^th, 2010

The regular monthly meeting of the Seacoast Chief Fire Officers Mutual Aid District was called to order by President Chief Christopher LeClaire at 7:14pm at the Science & Nature Center at Seabrook Station nuclear power plant with 28 members present representing 18 communities Seabrook Station and Pease Air National Guard Base.

Following the salute to the flag and a moment of silence for departed firefighters, a message of welcome was heard from the host Chief Bob Law. Chief Law gave a brief history of Seabrook Station and a video presentation on nuclear power and plant operations.

Congratulations were offered to recently appointed Chief Dennis Cote of North Hampton and also to former Chief Stan Walker recently elected once again to lead the Stratham Fire Department.

Having been transmitted to the membership by electronic mail, a motion to waive the reading of the November minutes was made and seconded (O’Brien/Benotti) So voted.

The treasurer’s report was read and accepted (Cutter/Cresta) So voted.

Under correspondence, the secretary has a copy of the NHAFC Trumpet for March/April.

Committee Reports:

START: Harry Thayer reported for Chief Comeau. The START costs of the Durham incident involving anthrax is at $19,000.

SCBA SUPPORT TRAILERS: Both the Rye and Lee SCBA trailers responded to the Fifth alarm on Hampton Beach on the 26^th of February. The SCBA trailers are due for inspection during this month and all of the registrations for the vehicles must be renewed during 2010.

MIRT: No report

LEGISLATIVE: Chief LeClaire reported that C2F2 may be eliminated.

FUND RAISER (GOLF): Get out and get sponsors.

TRITON PUMP SYSTEM: No report.

STATE FEDERATION OF MUTUAL AID: Carl Roediger talked on the strike teams and the proper way to contact them for a response. Retired chiefs Thibault and Lambert will be contacting all departments regarding the updating of the plan.

BY-LAWS: Harry Thayer updated and distributed all new by-laws by electronic mail.

He will see to it that Chief Stan Walker is provided with the updates.

WEB SITE: Chief Sullivan reported that Bill Blais is updating the site when time allows.

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Report by Deputy Benotti. He along with Chief Lord and Deputy Wilking attended IMT training at Emmitsburg. They came away with the feeling that we have progressed rather well here in New Hampshire.

PASSPORT ACCOUNTABILITY: Deputy Benotti listed Six communities that were not yet on board with the passport system. West Newbury is the next to adopt. Financial support is available to the departments that need it to purchase the components of the system. Discussion of the accountability at the Hampton Beach fire was heard.

REGIONAL DISPATCH: No report.

TRAINING: No report, but the floor was turned over to Chief Silver to talk about the Five alarm + + + fire at Hampton beach. Chris thanked everyone for responding and doing their part in controlling the incident. He gave a lot of credit to Deputy Benotti and the command staff for the way in which the incident command system was utilized. He passed out incident report forms and asked those that operated at the fire to fill them out so that Hampton could prepare an after action report.

MAINE: Chief O’Brien spoke on the importance of members not waiting until the last minute to address the narrow banding of radios which must be done by December 31^st of the year 2012. Licensing takes about a year and a half to accomplish.

MASSACHUSETTS: Chief Cutter reported that Massachusetts is also looking at residential sprinkler legislation. Chief Spencer talked about the proposed Essex County regional dispatch center and the number of unanswered questions hanging out there.

Old Business:

Chief LeClaire reported that our liability insurance with LGC is up in June and he is still looking toward Primex as an alternative.

New Business:

John Merrill spoke of a sub-group of the Essex County Massachusetts fire chiefs consisting of EMS directors and coordinators. He stated that it has been a very successful group and thinks it would be a good idea for the SCFOAMAD to look into.

A/C Jason Cleary brought up the fact that the future paramedic training opportunities in New Hampshire may be limited to the technical college and it would be difficult for firefighters to attend a Five day a week program.

Chief Silver asked the group if they would be interested in a program at some future meeting on financial recovery (cost of extinguishment) which is fairly new ground for the fire service. Possibly the June meeting at Portsmouth’s new Station Two.

Motion (Sullivan/O’Brien) to donate $200.00 to the York Maine Volunteer Fire Department to be earmarked for the SMART truck (rehab and feeding unit) So voted.

Deputy Benotti suggested that we draw up a common radio plan for the seacoast fire service. Specifically addressing common FG channels, Tactical channels etc. Motion (Silver/Spencer) to appoint a communications committee. So voted

Chief LeClaire appointed Cutter; O’Brien; Silver; Benotti; Spencer and Seaman.

Chief LeClaire ended the meeting by making the observation that the SCFOMAD “has it’s shit together”.

Good of The Order:

The next SCFOA meeting will be in Somersworth on April 1^st, 2010.

The next NH Fire Chiefs meeting is in Bedford on Thursday March 11^th, 2010.

The motion to adjourn was heard at 8:37pm

Respectfully,

Chief William H. Sullivan

Secretary