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Woodward decides not to adopt NFPA standards

LOCKPORT — Discussions regarding the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) took center stage at Woodward Township’s regular meeting this week.

Kevin Ferrara asked the board — Kyle Coleman, Wayne Love and John Barth — whether the township would be adopting the NFPA standards.

The National Fire Protection Association is an international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards.

Ferrara, who is a resident of Pine Creek Township, said he was speaking on behalf of taxpayers in Woodward Township. At the August meeting, he suggested the board consider adopting these standards, and the board said they would take it into consideration.

“We discussed it and it appears there are some things that we could get roped into that we don’t want to get roped into doing,” Coleman said.

The recommendation to not adopt the standards came from Solicitor Robert D. O’Connor Jr.

“Essentially my concern, as I expressed to the township board, was pretty much two-fold. The first was that if they adopted those standards then they would potentially have a liability issue if in fact an incident were to occur and a claim filed. Somebody could allege that we adopted a standard but have not applied that standard,” O’Connor said.

“Number two, if in fact there is a standard and if in fact the township would have to follow it, that could potentially result in more expenditures to acquire that standard,” he continued.

Although the township is choosing to not adopt NFPA standards, the purchase of equipment will still follow the standards in the future.

“What was recommended to us is that we follow those guidelines when we’re making those purchases so that it’s NFPA approved but not actually adopt the full deal because if we do that we might be tied into things that might take us out completely because of finances,” Coleman said.

Township resident Trevor Reeder said he discussed the NFPA standards with Love the previous day.

“Wayne and I had a great conversation about it yesterday. I think that the solution is to adopt the resolution that newly purchased equipment needs to meet NFPA standards,” he said.

A resolution was not brought before the board on Tuesday night.

One of the potential benefits of adopting the NFPA would be a possible change to the township’s Insurance Services Office rating. The ratings calculate how well-equipped fire departments are to put out fires in the community.

Love said the current rating of 5.5 out of 10 would not change, according to the ISO office in New Jersey.

Ferrara disputed this.

“If the fire department doesn’t meet your needs that you’re supposed to identify or certain NFPA standards it will affect your ISO rating. I don’t know why they mislead you into believing it won’t change. They can chance your ISO ratings at any given time based on their assessment,” he said.

He said the township doesn’t currently have a contract which states the needs of the township to the fire department. He specifically referenced response times to fires.

Love asked him what the appropriate response time would be.

“If you look at the volunteer fire service it depends on the distance from the fire department,” Ferrara answered.

“What would lead you to believe they aren’t meeting that (response time),” Love followed.

“Let’s see, they had a fire a couple of weeks ago and they only had one truck out and a few personnel that didn’t meet NFPA standards,” Ferrara replied.

Members of the fire company interjected, clearly upset by Ferrara’s statement.

“You showed up to that same fire without any gear on yourself,” George McKinney said.

Ferrara disputed the claim, stating he was in gear. However McKinney said he wasn’t completely equipped.

Firefighter Brent Brungard provided a run down of the procedure used during the fire.

“We had one engine on the street, hooked directly to a main hydrant laying directly in front of the structure with lines off of it. There was nothing sitting there that stopped us from putting that fire out. Yes we had engine one from the city there but you can’t put out a house fire yourself,” Brungard said. “We had multiple different units there for the manpower, I’m not afraid to say that. They were doing exactly what they were trained to do and the fire got put out.That’s the end of the story.”

Ferrara and members of the fire company argued back and forth, with Coleman attempting to put an end to the discussion multiple times.

“If you have a concern about a response time or if you know taxpayers in our township that speak to you because of the media thing you guys provide, please send them to us so we can address it,” Coleman told Ferrara. “I invite you here every month and if there’s something to bring up please come to us, but I don’t want this to turn into a battle back and forth.

“I’m not trying to discourage you from speaking up… but we’re not getting anywhere right now with this direction,” Coleman continued.

He said a fire advisory board will be created soon that will hopefully address some of the issues brought up including what specific needs the township has for the fire department.

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