Our View  - Situation in RFD1 is mind-boggling

The situation in Rural Fire District 1 is mind-boggling.

It seems fairly simple. Havre Fire Department has had an agreement to put out fires in the district, a ring that runs around the outside edge of Havre.

Havre’s government said violations on fire codes have been found in the district, putting residents and firefighters at risk when fires occur. That includes the Havre Fire Department responding to a fire at a location where large amounts of flammable liquid were stored that the firefighters didn’t know about. They would have approached that fire differently if they had known.

So Havre asked the district to negotiate a new agreement that included fire code enforcement — which normally is part of those agreements but was not included in the agreement Havre has had with the district for decades.

So Havre canceled the agreement, effective June 30, so a new agreement that included fire code enforcement could be negotiated.

Havre says it is simple — fire code enforcement is part of the duties of a fire chief, so the district can appoint a fire chief or someone, at least, to enforce codes, or contract those duties out.

But RFD1 board is not willing to do that.

No clear reason that holds up to scrutiny as to why the board is opposed to at least starting the process has been given. That is all Havre has asked for.

It appears the meeting held this week made some headway — although previous meetings also seemed to indicate that but that apparently was not the case.

Havre has once again given an extension to its agreement to suppress fires in the district. That is for two weeks.

The RFD1 board needs to work with the city to set something up so residences, buildings and peoples’ lives in the district are protected.

If it can’t do that, it would be mind-boggling.