I met this morning for a lengthy session with Kirk Quillin, Fire commissioner from Bayview. He brought with him a copy of the comprehensive budget with a five year spread. Quillin said,"This was not a firing in the sense of a prejudicial termination. It was strictly a money issue. We could either afford to pay the chief or keep up maintenance on our equipment but not both."
He went on to say,"Seven years ago we had a chief and two paid full time firefighters/EMTs. We currently have a chief and six full time firefighters. We tried to become something we just haven't the capability to do financially. Essentially, we're broke. Contrary to the many rumors floating around, we did not fire the chief for cause."
"We would cheerfully recommend him to perhaps a larger fire district with a better financial situation."
Currently, the district is in negotiations with Northern Lakes Fire District for the purpose of providing training and day-to-day administration. Stay tuned.
We have not been able to contact Chief Krill. We do know that he is by far the majority of the district, respected for his knowledge and diligence. He was burning out working in excess of 70 hours per week. The district was faced with hiring a deputy chief,for which their was no money available. I want to wish Jack Krill every sucess in his future endeavors.
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7 years ago
7 comments:
Although I have a great deal of respect for Kirk, I do not feel it was necessary to cut someones position in an already under staffed department. 2 paid personnel is not exceptable as it is and now we just lost our 3rd person to count on for response. Our citizens deserve a better service with adequate number of responders. But what do I know I'm just a firefighter trying to do what's best for this community. But I do believe there is light at the end of this long dark tunnel.
If you read the post there were 6 paid positions and the Chief "We currently have a chief and six full time firefighters.
The decision was extremely difficult.
NJ
2 personnel on shift at a time. You are correct that we have 6 total paid personnel but all six of us do not work the same days. This district relies on just 2 career personnel on duty for 48hrs. This is extremely understaffed for this large of a district and the type of calls we get. Sagle and Spirit lake fire have 3 paid personnel on 24 hrs a day. That 3rd person is very important in firefighting and ems operations.
What is even more disconcerting is the unique situation the District is in during the summer months when the number of people within the district swells astronomically. Silverwood alone,on a hot summer day, can have 10,000(+) patrons in the park. Add Farragut and Bayview and their tourist draw. The traffic along our district's portion of 95 is also extremely high in the summer months. All these people enter our District trusting that we will be there to protect and preserve life, limb and property. Difficult in any summer nearly impossible to do with only 2 paid staff and the leadership they are left with. These are good men and women, who give their all to guard the community, but they are reeling from the rash actions of the board the citizens elected in good faith to support and back the District force and their efforts. To pull the rug of leadership out from underneath them at any time in this manner is negligent. To do it just as we enter our busiest time of year is criminal and poorly planned.
It was apparent from the start of the meeting held last Wednesday in Northern Lakes Fire Station that this action was the work of only two or perhaps three of the Fire Commissioners on the Timberlake board. With Chris Weise being absent from the meeting and Jon Guinn stating from the start of the meeting that he had been kept out of the loop of information and had no knowledge of the meeting's objective until 3 days prior and that the meeting was improper at this time.
The Timberlake Fire Commssioner's who acted to remove the Fire Chief in this manner did so in what I suspect has to be a personal attack on Chief Krill for reasons we will probably never know, and their methods were extremely unprofessional and probably border on the criminal.
Several of the Commissioner's say that firing the Chief will bring stability and better infrastructure to the fire Department along with more money in the pot for training, equipment repair etc., but who is going to pay Northern Lakes for their Services? WE ARE! How much is that going to cost us? It remains to be seen but I'll bet you a cup of coffee and a doughnut at Ralph's that its not going to put that much money back into the pot that we can afford to lose a paid staff member who lives in the district.
By the way, in case you didn't know... Chief Krill was the ONLY paid FF/EMT staff member who lives in the Timberlake District.
Which one of the Fire Fighter-EMT's from Northern Lakes is going to be available for 60-80 hours a week 24 hours a day, and respond to almost every call that Timberlake Fire receives like Chief Krill has been known to do?
Probably none...
How do we replace the kind of Service and dedication that we received from Chief Krill?
I see now how our elected officials REWARD that kind of service and dedication... they fire you...
Think about it people, you lost a valuable resource this month, was it really worth it? if your a Timberlake FIRE/EMS district resident and one of your loved one's has a medical emergency in the middle of the night or your home is going up in flames... don't worry, Northern Lakes is only a short 15-20 minutes from getting there...
The average citizen has no idea what we lost when the three fire commissioners acting inappropriately dismissed the fire chief. You may think we only lost 1 person, but i n fact, especially for the residents of Bayview, we lost a lot more than that.
Chief Krill's response time to a medical call or suspected fire here in Bayview would be on the average 5-7 minutes faster from his home than the paid staff from Athol in the middle of the night.
What does that mean to you and me?
Well if it was you or a loved one having a medical emergency or your home was on fire, I think it would hit home.
You had an experienced Fire Fighter / EMT living locally who could be on the scene to evaluate the situation, take action and order any additional resources needed well before the paid personnel in Athol could possibly have arrived.
Now your elected officials want to turn that responsibility over to a Fire Department that is headquartered over 30 miles away?
The Fire Commissioners argument to this might be.... Well, our paid staff can handle it... that may be, if they are available. But what if the TWO remaining paid staff members on duty are in CDA, already transporting someone else to the hospital?
I know that Northern Lakes has the experience to handle this task, but is it really the responsibility of a neighboring fire district to oversee our department and our district? I don't think so.
In my opinion, we as a community need to realize that we have not seen a tax increase in quite a few years and we NEED to pony up and agree to a tax levy increase to help the fire department meet its budgetary needs and insure us, the residents of the district that we have the manpower and the equipment to service the Timberlake district today and for years to come.
The cost of paying Krill for his service and paying Norternlakes for there service is gonna cost close to the same, so dont let the commisiners tell you it was a cost saving move because that is a bunch of crap, the reason they fired him would amaze you infact the way they fired him and conducted them selves was criminal I hope someone will bring criminal charges upon them all for ths act. They fire the chief of the fire department when the district will need him the most. Who do you think is gonna run the district while the deal is supposably worked out with Northern lakes fire, you guessed it Rudy one of our commishiners he has a great deal of knowledge selling car parts and that makes him highly qualified to make life and death decisions for the fine people of this district.
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