July 1 deadline nears, no new Rural Fire District 1 agreement in place

The impasse between Havre and the Rural Fire District 1 board over a new fire suppression agreement is about to leave the area unprotected, at least officially.

Rural Fire District 1 is essentially a ring around Havre in which the Havre Fire Department provides fire suppression services under the current agreement. The city announced last December it was canceling the agreement effective July 1 so a new agreement listing who would enforce fire codes in the district could be implemented.

District board chairman Steve Jamruszka submitted a proposed contract immediately following the board’s June 8 meeting, which included a memorandum of understanding he said addressed the city’s concerns about fire code enforcement.

Jamruszka cites Montana code stating that the state fire marshal’s office will report, enforce and investigate fire issues and that the state Department of Labor and Industry Building Codes Bureau can provide inspection services for cities, counties and towns that do not have inspection programs certified by the bureau.

Jamruszka said at the June 8 meeting that the district does not have the authority to enforce fire codes.

Solomon said Monday that the proposed agreement Jamruszka sent to his office after the June 8 meeting didn’t address the city’s concerns, saying it wasn’t even a consideration.

He said he did not have much of an update about the situation, adding that the city attorney sent the fire district a proposed contract last week and had not heard back.

Solomon said June 7 that Montana law does provide for fire districts enforcing fire codes in their district.

Solomon and Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson have said the Havre Fire Department still would respond to fires in the district if the agreement lapses, but would then bill the district directly rather than operating under the agreement.

Jamruszka had not responded to requests for comment by printing deadline this morning.

Hill County Attorney Karen Alley, Hi-Line Law, which represents the city, and the Montana Attorney General’s Office had not responded by print deadline this morning to requests for comment on whether the fire district can enforce fire codes.

Paulson talked in an interview June 7 about the importance of meeting fire code and code enforcement.

A concern is safety, not just for civilian community members but also the safety of his firefighters, Paulson said. Buildings being up to code alleviates a liability.

He said the department does inspections in Havre to get familiarized with buildings, adding that every business in Havre has a pre-plan so the department knows what a building has in it such as flammable liquids and other hazards.

That isn’t the case in Rural Fire District 1. He said the department responded to a fire in Rural Fire 1 where the building had 10,000 gallons of oil stored behind a building that was burning and the department did not know that and could not plan or set tactics to deal with it.

He said another impact of not having an agreement is financial. If an agreement is not in place, it could make some places uninsurable — not just that rates would go up, if no response was set, they could become completely uninsurable.