Whitefish Council examines fire department plan

A strategic plan for the Whitefish Fire Department calls for adding firefighters and equipment to the department while continuing to examine the future needs of the agency, which is seeing service calls increase.

Whitefish City Council is set to review the strategic plan Monday. The discussion takes place during a 6 p.m. work session.

The regular meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. at City Hall, 418 E. Second St. No public hearings are scheduled. The only action item on the agenda for the night is Council’s consideration of a resolution adopting its goals for fiscal year 2024.

The plan suggests that the department continue to add firefighters/paramedics to require seven assigned to each shift which would result in the minimum staff on duty increasing from four to five.

The fire department is a combination of mostly career firefighters and a dwindling number of volunteers.

A long-term goal in the plan calls for obtaining an aerial apparatus, which would provide the ability to reach the top of taller buildings in town. It would also allow for water to be applied over the walls of a structure, which is especially important when there are fires in buildings immediately adjacent to one another like in downtown Whitefish, the plan notes.

AP Triton, a consultant hired by the city of Whitefish, completed a long-range master plan for the fire department in 2021. That plan looked at staffing levels and equipment at the fire department, along with response times and other areas related to the operations of the fire department including projecting future needs.

It set out general recommendations for the department but highlighted the need for the city to create a strategic plan to prioritize the goals and objectives of the department.

A committee made up of the city manager, mayor, a rural fire service area representative, a firefighter union representative and the fire chief has been working since January 2022 to develop the strategic plan.

The master plan listed 45 recommendations and the committee grouped those into specific areas — set performance benchmarks for the department; increase firefighter/paramedic staffing; add a new assistant fire chief position; perform a cost study and revise rates charged for ambulance service; create a fleet maintenance plan; acquire an aerial apparatus; develop a community risk reduction plan; and projects that require further study.

The specific areas are detailed in committee recommendations with suggested timelines for meeting goals, along with suggestions for funding recommendations.

The Whitefish department covers the 7 square miles of the city and also provides fire and rescue response to the surrounding 86 square miles of the rural Whitefish Fire Service Area, plus a 140 square mile portion of the Flathead Fire Service Area. It provides ambulance services for Whitefish, the rural area, the Olney Fire District and a portion of the Flathead Fire Service Area to the north and west.

Also during the work session beginning at 5:30 p.m., Council is set to discuss a proposed pedestrian bridge for the Whitefish Yards project, located at 95 Karrow Ave.

Work is underway on the large commercial and residential development at the 14-acre site that was initially approved in 2018. Part of the project calls for a bridge across the Whitefish River that would connect the city’s path along the river and one planned also along the river as part of the project.

Features Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com.

Support local journalism — subscribe to the Daily Inter Lake today.