Windham – The WVFD Fire Board met for their regularly scheduled meeting for May at the fire station with all board members and fiscal officer present. In the fire chief’s report, Chief Iwanyckyj asked the board if they could partition part of the meeting room off to make a lounge for the medics who are on call. The cost of the partition would be paid out from the firemen’s fund. After some discussion the board gave their approval for the men to make a lounge area. The chief showed the board the molding they received from Johnsonite for the meeting room. The molding was donated to the firemen. The chief stated he has access to a reduced rate pulse oxygen sensor that the firemen will purchase from the firemen’s fund if the board would agree to purchase the finger sensor for the unit. The unit is needed for the second ambulance. The board approved the finger sensor for the new oxygen sensor. The fire chief said they were covering most of the EMS calls, with a few being covered by North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) and Community Ambulance. Windham has also done a few mutual aid calls for Community Ambulance. This brought up the discussion on whether they should change their first back-up responder from NEAS to Community Ambulance to improve response times. After a discussion it was determined that the response times were within the national average for rural areas so they determined to leave well enough alone and review the system again in six months. In maintenance report Mr. Polichena reported that the trucks were in good shape, he has installed the new light bar on truck 2817 and took the light bar from that truck and had it installed on the fire jeep. Truck 2815 is in need of new tires due to dry rot. Polichena will get prices by the next meeting.A discussion was held on the fuel tank situation and it was determined that they would need to develop a plan for purchasing fuel rather than trying to bring current tanks up to the ever-changing EPA codes. The chief will look into fleet fuel purchasing with Circle K. Circle K is open 24/7 so obtaining fuel would not be a problem. The chief will explore the options and report back to the board next month.The board adjourned to en executive session, to discuss personnel matters. After the executive session the board reconvened and addressed the multi-gas detector issue. The fire chief said the charger for the unit had disappeared and the unit they have is useless without a charger. The cost to replace it would be $103.90. They use the detectors to detect harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, propane, natural gas etc leaks. The board approved the request. With there being no other business, the meeting was adjourned. The fire board meets on the second Thursday of each month at the fire station at 7pm. Meetings are open to the public.
