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The MSU College of Technology in Great Falls offers a Associate of Applied Science Degree in Fire & Rescue Technology. General Education Requirements PHYS 130 Fundamentals of Physical Science 4 Technical Education Requirements EMS 137 EMT Basic 6
CIT 110 Intro to Computers 3 + A grade of “C” or above required for graduation | * Indicates prerequisites needed | ** Placement in course(s) is determined by admissions assessment ~Many students need preliminary Math, English, and/or Computer courses before enrolling in the program required courses. These courses may increase the total number of program credits. Students should review their Math and English placement scores as well as high school transcripts with an advisor before planning out their full program schedule. Advisor: Dr. John Culbertson Today’s firefighters not only respond to fire and medical emergencies but also participate in disaster response planning, containment, and cleanup of hazardous material spills, enforcement of fire codes and standards, as well as delivery of safety, fire, and accident prevention programs. The work of the contemporary firefighter is multi-functional and requires a high level of expertise in relevant technical areas as well as proficiencies in written and oral communications, leadership, planning, and the ability to deal with a broad range of individuals and situations.
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15 years ago today, the WorldTradeCenter bombing and fire kills 6 and injures 1,165 in New York
In this Edition: Around Montana DHS FF Assistance Grant Workshops (Start time 7 p.m.) Tonight Circle ThirdAnnualBuilding and Fire Education Conference, Bozeman, April 7 - 11 Former Montanan Works Durango, Colorado Explosion Explosion destroys SeeleyLake cabin Reward offered in Worden fires Creston Vehicle Accident Fire inspection time in Great Falls is upon us Open Burning Allowed March 1, 2008 Missoula Judge wants to know why Ag undersecretary should not be jailed
Around the Nation Boston’s Commissioner Will Reopen Inquiry Into Firefighters' Deaths Related Editorial: We must know: Were two deaths avoidable? Forest Division: The paychecks aren't in the mail Ohio Fire truck rolls over; 2 hurt Man gets 20 years for fatal arson during standoff in Rochester, Washington New Jersey pileup could claim fire truck BoiseCounty fire renders ambulance homeless Update: CO. FF Ejected-No Seat Belt-LODD (The Secret List) NationalFireAcademy (NFA) Training Opportunities (as of February 22, 2008) Upcoming Training Opportunities Event Calendar =========== Around Montana Feb. 27 MSU FSTS Basement, 750 6th St SW,Great Falls Feb. 28 New Deer Lodge Fire Hall, 301 2nd Street, Deer Lodge Feb. 29. EarlBennettBuilding,1035 1st Ave West, Kalispell
======= Montana Mutual Aid Meeting March 1-2 Eastgate VFD E. Helena Guests: Please Register at FSTS: Toll Free Voice Mail 800-294-5272, talk to a staff person at 406-761-7885 or email to bhadella@montana.edu ThirdAnnualBuilding and Fire Education Conference, Bozeman, April 7 - 11 The ThirdAnnualBuilding and Fire Education Conference will be held in Bozeman, April 7-11, 2008, at the Gran Tree Inn. For more information, open the following link: http://mt.gov/dli/bsd/bc/ed.asp Registration Includes lunch each full day, a vendor expo social on Tuesday afternoon and evening, and opportunities to network with other fire and building code officials on important issues. Thank you. David W. Cook, Program Manager Former Montanan Works Durango Explosion Butch, =========== Explosion destroys SeeleyLake cabin Fire investigators are still looking into what sparked an explosion that rocked the town of Seeley Lake on Mondayafternoon.SeeleyLake Fire Chief Frank Maradeo tells us a fire department administrator heard a loud explosion shortly after 1:00 p.m. She then ran outside and saw debris falling from the sky. The debris came from a cabin which is completely destroyed and Maradeo say that parts of the cabin ended up in the lake and in the nearby trees. He adds that nearby homes suffered some damage to windows and walls. Based on a preliminary examination by the state Fire Marshall, officials believe that a propane tank leak in the crawl space ignited with some sort of heat source causing the explosion. The people who own the cabin were not home at the time of the explosion. And a firefighter suffered a broken ankle while fighting the blaze. =========== Three ejected in GallatinCanyon rollover A single vehicle rollover was reported in the GallatinCanyon Monday afternoon near mile marker 68. Central Valley Assistant Fire Chief Brian Crandell tells Z7 three people were ejected from the car -- two of them children -- and all are being taken to the hospital. ============ Plea deal reached in Billings arson case Aaron Flint, KTVQ Montana’s News Station A man from Billings, who allegedly lit his truck on fire while his wife was inside the vehicle, changed his plea to guilty on Monday.
Jerry Gonzales, 34, was originally charged with attempted deliberate homicide in connection with the December 2nd incident. In a plea agreement with prosecutors, the attempted homicide charge was dropped and instead, Gonzales is now facing felony arson charges that carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Officials say that after the fire was lit, his wife escaped the burning vehicle and then notified authorities. Despite the incident, Gonzales' wife appeared in court on Monday, and approved a request by defense attorneys to allow her husband to contact her. =========== Reward offered in Worden fires By Gazette News Services A $5,000 reward has been offered for information about a string of arson fires last year in Worden. The owners of the Evergreen Apartments on Northern Avenue have offered the reward, said Yellowstone County Sheriff's Detective Seth Weston. ========== Creston Vehicle Accident Rescue personnel with the Creston Fire Department maneuvered a 19-year-old man onto a backboard Monday after his Jeep slid off the road near McWenneger Slough. He was taken by ambulance to KalispellRegionalMedicalCenter. According to the Montana Highway Patrol, the man was driving south on Columbia Falls Stage Road about half a mile north of Montana 35 at 9:45 a.m. Monday when he lost control, overcorrected and slid sideways off the right side of the road, almost rolling the Jeep. He was the vehicle’s only occupant. “He was wearing his seat belt and was very lucky,” Highway Patrol Trooper Jerril Ren said. The man suffered a possible broken leg and back and neck injuries. ========== Fire inspection time in Great Falls is upon us Doug Bennyhoff, Fire Marshal, Great Falls Fire/Rescue It's time for the Fire Department's annual inspection of each business in Great Falls to check for fire or life safety hazards.
The Fire Department inspects each business in town every year to check for fire code violations that could create fires or safety hazards for customers. It is important to note that the business owners are liable if something were to happen to customers because of a violation or negligence
The firemen will look for things such as extension cords used in lieu of permanent wiring, exit signs to direct people out in case of an emergency, storage too close to a heating appliance (no closer than 18"), or that the address is posted on the outside of the building. There are also many other fire maintenance codes that they are looking for.
While fireman are looking for code issues, they also take this time to do preplans of the business, building or the complex. That means they look for different hazards that need to be noted if, in fact, they were called to respond to the business for a fire or other emergency. They look at the floor plan to determine the way to enter the building during an emergency and what nearby buildings may need to be protected. They look for other potential hazards, such as special evacuation needs, construction types, and excessive loads on roofs that could contribute to a collapse.
Firemen take a fire engine to each inspection because they need to be ready to respond at all times. They may get a call while they are inspecting and may have to leave abruptly. The fire truck is a firefighter's toolbox, and they generally cannot fix problems without all their tools. Please be patient with the Fire Department. We're trying to make your business safer for the public and your employees. Keep in mind that any time it is inconvenient for you, just relay that information to the firemen and they will gladly come back another time. Grandpa Jack says, "A little ounce of prevention up front saves money in the long run." ========== Open Burning Allowed March 1, 2008 ========== Hot Property The DailyInterlake Black, acrid smoke poured from the house’s windows as firefighters lined up outside the door. With hoses ready and oxygen masks firmly in place, the team crept into the murky haze of the burning building’s interior. Only flashlight beams could be seen flickering through the thickening fumes. =========== Judge wants to know why ag undersecretary should not be jailed MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -- A federal judge holding a hearing in Montana wants to know why the official overseeing the U.S. Forest Service should not be jailed for allowing use of a wildfire retardant that kills fish. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey is expected to appear in the Missoula courtroom of U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Tuesday. The judge wants to know why Rey should not be jailed and the aerial retardant drops stopped nationwide until the Forest Service shows it has properly considered danger to the environment. Molloy says he believes the Forest Service is in contempt, but he's withholding a conclusion until there's a hearing. Forest Service spokesman Joe Walsh says the hearing is an opportunity to show the agency works in good faith. =========== Around the Nation Commissioner Will Reopen Inquiry Into Firefighters' Deaths Controversy Grows With Charges, Countercharges Boston's fire commissioner said Friday that he'll reopen an inquiry into the deaths of two firefighters, calling the first one incomplete because it didn't obtain autopsy results reportedly showing one had alcohol and the other cocaine in his system.
Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser said he wants to definitely determine whether drug or alcohol impairment were factors in the deaths of Paul Cahill and Warren Payne as they battled a restaurant fire last August.
News reports last year on the autopsies said at the time of the fire Cahill had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit and Payne had traces of cocaine in his system, citing unnamed officials who had seen the autopsy reports, which are not public record.
The report released Friday by the Fire Department's board of inquiry concluded that drugs and alcohol were not factors in the deaths. But Fraser said it's impossible to say that because the board, made up entirely of union members, didn't obtain the autopsy reports. "I don't believe you can report out completely what happened without the toxicology and autopsy reports," Fraser said. Fraser said the city was working to obtain the autopsy reports and toxicology tests. The head of the fire firefighter's union, Ed Kelly, said Fraser "just doesn't want to accept any responsibility." "He wants to shift the responsibility to two firefighters who lost their lives," he said. "We think that's a disgrace."
The board could have gotten copies of the autopsy reports under a state law that allows investigatory bodies to obtain them from the medical examiner if certain conditions are met, including getting clearance from the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
The DA never received any requests from the medical examiner in this case, spokesman Jake Wark said. A spokesman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety, Terrel Harris, said he could not say whether the board asked the medical examiner for the reports because his office does not comment on how they are disseminated.
Division Chief Stephen Dunbar, a member of the board of inquiry, said he wrote Boston police in October requesting the autopsy reports, but received no response. He said the panel still was able to determine from witness interviews that Payne and Cahill were not impaired. "The facts show they performed their duties as they were assigned to them," Dunbar said. Payne and Cahill were killed in a fire at the Tai Ho Restaurant. Dunbar said the men had little chance because of the intensity of the blaze.
The report said Cahill entered the restaurant without a face mask and left his radio at the station. In a letter Fraser wrote to the board Thursday, he noted two other firefighters with Cahill escaped and asked whether alcohol impairment explains why Cahill didn't. Since the fire, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has pushed mandatory drug and alcohol testing for Boston firefighters, who have been working without a contract since the middle of 2006. But the union has resisted the call and complained that the department's reputation has been unfairly tarnished since the deaths of the two men. ============= Related Editorial: We must know: Were two deaths avoidable? http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists After 134 pages of a Board of Inquiry report released yesterday, the only question left unanswered about the blaze that destroyed the Tai Ho restaurant and took the lives of two Boston jakes, is the only one that really matters: Did firefighters Paul Cahill and Warren Payne have to die?
We know it was a combination of grease and neglect that triggered a deceptively lethal kitchen fire in West Roxbury in August. What still remains a mystery is whether the alleged presence of alcohol in one of these fallen jakes and cocaine in the other helped transform a nuisance into a full-blown tragedy?
The report, authored by a senior group of Boston Fire Department union members, begins with a disclaimer. The panel states it had no official access to the autopsy reports of Cahill and Payne that had already been leaked to the public.
Nevertheless, it concludes: “The board of inquiry could find no factual indications supporting that alcohol/drug impairment contributed to, or caused the deaths of these two firefighters.” How the board could determine that without factoring in toxicology results that allegedly placed Cahill’s blood alcohol level at more than three times the legal limit and found trace amounts of cocaine in Payne’s system, is a question that Boston’s Fire Commissioner, Roderick J. Fraser Jr., would like answered.
Fraser’s skepticism is only a reflection of the public’s doubt. “Could being under the influence of alcohol have contributed to Firefighter Cahill’s disorientation and decision not to wear his facepiece?” Fraser asked in a letter that essentially rejected the findings of the board’s report. “If (Cahill) had been wearing his facepiece would he have survived?
The answers to those questions lie buried in a blood feud that pits the BFD’s union against both a new commissioner, who parachuted in from well outside the brotherhood, and a mayor who’s always been viewed as the antichrist by Local 718.
Still, they are the only questions the public cares about. The deaths of Paul Cahill and Warren Payne have managed only to fan the flames over the BFD’s staunch defiance in refusing to accept random alcohol and drug testing without getting quid pro quo sweetener.
Sure, we can read the detailed analysis of how big the hole in the duct work was above the oven hood in the restaurant’s kitchen. We can understand how it contributed to the build-up of toxic gases that eventually fueled a fireball that engulfed Payne.
But that doesn’t shed any light on why Paul Cahill left his radio back at the firehouse that night. Or how it was that the two brother jakes who were with Cahill managed to make their way out of an inferno, while he wound up walking deeper into the fire.
Ed Kelly, the president of Local 718, is furious (with some justification) that private autopsy reports were leaked to the public. The rub, of course, is that it was a matter of public concern. He now holds up a union-produced report, heavy on fire science, to say that we should pay no attention to those troubling reports that spilled into the public spotlight. Trouble is, it’s way too late for that. To borrow a historic fire fighting analogy, that horse has already left the barn . . . and it’s not coming back.
The truth is, the public thinks no less of the sacrifice Cahill and Payne made on our behalf. We grieve along with their families. If anything, our grief is underscored by a sense of frustration over whether events might have been different at Tai Ho that awful summer night. Without confronting the reality of those autopsy reports in a thorough and straightforward way and combining them with the scenario laid in the Board of Inquiry’s findings, we will never know for sure what really happened that night and whether tragedy might have been averted. Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1075417 ============== Massachusetts Firefighter Makes Headfirst Escape from Blaze Story by thebostonchannel.com PEABODY, Mass. -- A firefighter trapped in a smoky apartment fire was rescued by several fire chiefs from surrounding towns on Monday.
NewsCenter 5's Sean Kelly reported that the fire broke out at the Cross Keys Apartment complex on Monday afternoon.
At first, other firefighters thought the 20-year veteran was getting some fresh air near a second-floor window. But they said they soon realized that he needed help. "At first he appeared like he was just going to get some air, but then it became pretty evident to us that he was in distress," Wakefield Fire Chief Dave Parr said.
Fire chiefs from five departments that responded to the blaze dragged a ladder around the apartment building and hoisted it up to the firefighter at a second-floor window. After tossing his mask and tank to the ground, the firefighter slid face-first down the ladder away from the thick, black smoke that billowed from the window.
"Basically, we just want to make sure he didn't roll off the ladder as he came out head-first. It looked like he took in quite a bit of smoke, so we quickly ushered him over to the EMS unit," Parr said.
All the 20 residents of the apartment building escaped the blaze safely.
Investigators said they are looking at whether a seal on the firefighter's mask failed. "We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. It was a team effort. We saw that he was in distress and we took action. We didn't want him to jump out the window," Parr said. The name of the firefighter was not released. He was taken to an area hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. =============== Forest Division: The paychecks aren't in the mail KOB.com Will the volunteers be paid or won't they? That is what firefighters who battled the OjoPeak fire are trying to figure after receiving conflicting reports from the State Forestry division. Volunteer firefighters from all over TorranceCounty battled the stubborn OjoPeak fire last November. The State Forestry Service asked them to document their time and the equipment they used so the crews could be reimbursed--or so they thought.
In fact, says TorranceCounty manager Joy Ansley, a time sheet was kept to pay departments, and the cash wasn't promised to rescuers. "That money is not intended to go back to the individual volunteers. Rather, it is intended to go to the departments for bunker gear, for training exercises...those types of things," she said.
But volunteers say that is not what they were told when they were asked to fill out time sheets by the Forestry Division. Many expected checks of $500 or more.
The State Forestry Division contends that if they were told that, it was an honest mistake. They say state law only allows the Forestry Division to send money to TorranceCounty and not directly to firefighters. ============= Ohio Fire truck rolls over; 2 hurt Cincinnati.com Two LibertyTownship firefighters were slightly injured Friday night when their fire truck flipped over on icy Hamilton-Middletown Road. Liberty Fire Chief Paul Stumpf said the fire truck was responding to a crash just north of Rt. 747 shortly after 6:30 p.m. when it hit an icy patch, slid off the road and rolled over. Both firefighters, who Stumpf declined to identify, were treated for minor injuries at AtriumMedicalCenter and released. Only minor injuries were reported in the accident the firefighters were responding to. Stumpf said the 1988 pumper trucker was heavily damaged but it slated to be replaced by a new vehicle in the next week. ============= Man gets 20 years for fatal arson during standoff in Rochester OLYMPIA, Wash. — A man whose wife and cousin died in a fire during a standoff at the family home outside Rochester has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The sentence issued Monday for Thomas William Mason, 40, who entered a modified guilty plea to two counts of first-degree manslaughter and one of first-degree arson, was what ThurstonCounty prosecutors recommended.
Mason originally was charged with first-degree murder and arson after his wife Susan, 41, and cousin Tim Mason died of toxic fumes from the fire during a four-hour standoff on July 23, 2006. The standoff began when sheriff's deputies responded to a report that he and his cousin, Tim Mason, had threatened a neighbor with machetes.
Thomas Mason entered an Alford plea to the reduced charges last month, acknowledging he would likely have been convicted had the case gone to trial but not directly admitting guilt Defense lawyer Robert Jimerson initially filed documents indicating Mason would plead innocent by reason of insanity. On Monday, Jimerson said he believes long-term methamphetamine abuse caused Mason to have mental health problems, including delusions at the time of the standoff and fire. ============= Pileup could claim firetruck BY JAMES YOO, NorthJersey.com Oakland, New Jersey firefighters had trained for this: a major accident on Route 287 that would close the roadway and cause numerous injuries. But a 48-vehicle accident in Wanaque on Friday night also claimed another casualty: a 1985 Mack fire engine struck by a tow truck on the slick roadway.
"As soon as I saw him coming, I got on the radio and told my guys to get out of the way," Oakland Fire Chief Peter Sondervan said of the tow truck. Sondervan estimated the firetruck would cost $500,000 to replace, if that becomes necessary.
Icy conditions, distracted drivers and stormy weather were blamed by authorities for the pileup, which closed a 2-mile stretch of Route 287 for three hours Friday night.
Forty-eight vehicles, including three tractor-trailers, were involved in 24 separate crashes, and 17 people were injured and taken to ChiltonMemorialHospital in Pequannock, state police said.
The most seriously injured of the victims, a 10-year-old Morristown girl, suffered a skull fracture, police said. She was taken to Chilton and transferred to MorristownMemorialHospital, said Tania Cutone, a nursing supervisor at Chilton. Eleven others were treated at Chilton and released, Cutone said. State police and the hospital could not explain the difference in the number of injured reported. A Morristown Memorial spokeswoman, citing federal privacy laws, would not comment on the girl's condition.
The WanaqueRiver bridge on Route 287 iced over "very quickly" around 7 p.m. Friday, state police said in a prepared statement. Then a northbound tractor-trailer jackknifed. A Volvo, with the Morristown girl inside, and another car collided with the truck, police said. The blocked lane set off a chain reaction on both sides of Route 287, police said.
The majority of the vehicles involved in the chain-reaction crash were on the northbound side, police said. But southbound drivers also were involved, possibly because they took their eyes off the road for a moment to look across the divider, said Sgt. Stephen Jones of the state police.
State troopers had to lean on vehicles that had crashed to support themselves as they moved around the accident site, Jones said. "Troopers returning from the scene said that it was the worst icing conditions that they had ever seen," he said.
Eyewitnesses said the bridge was coated with a sheet of ice, sending cars and trucks spinning out of control. "All you saw was cars going sideways," Greg Pace, 32, of Bloomingdale, said Friday night. "I saw tractor-trailers crushing cars like an accordion." Pace, a driver for the Peapod online grocery service, was on his way back to the company's distribution center in Wanaque when the accident occurred. He said he was about 350 or 400 feet behind the pileup.
Keeping that stretch of the roadway clear was challenging, said Erin Phalon, a state Department of Transportation spokeswoman. Work crews spread salt and plow as often as the precipitation and temperatures warrant, she said. But the elevation of the bridge, high winds and the fact that bridge decks freeze faster than roadways were challenges. She also said in an e-mail that rain washed away ice-melting chemicals while the bridge's pavement remained below freezing.
Emergency crews from Wanaque, PomptonLakes, Oakland, Riverdale and Ringwood also had a tough time reaching motorists. "There was no walking," said Sondervan, the Oakland fire chief. "It was all sliding." State police said the ambulance carrying the Morristown girl was stuck on the shoulder until the road conditions improved.
Sondervan said he later saw a tow truck coming down the middle of Route 287 south. The driver hit the brakes, lost control and then struck the rear of the Oakland fire engine, the chief said. The impact folded the rear tailboard and caused buckling on the passenger side, he said. "Oh, it's definitely out of service," he said. "The truck will be out of service until it's fixed or inspected." The 23-year-old fire engine was scheduled to be replaced next year, he said. Sondervan said he would call the borough's insurance company Monday to determine whether the truck could be repaired or would have to be replaced. He said the department would try to retrieve another fire engine being serviced in South Brunswick. In the meantime, Oakland may need to rely on neighboring departments for help, he said. Despite the accident, he said his department was prepared. "We've actually been waiting for it since [Route] 287 came through," he said, because the major roadway goes through Oakland. "This is actually the accident we've kind of been waiting for. "Really, we've been lucky up to now that we haven't had something like this." ============= Fire renders ambulance homeless A propane leak sparks a blaze that damages a training and storage shed, along with supplies, but the vehicle is saved. BY KATY MOELLER - kmoeller@idahostatesman.com BoiseCounty's long list of winter woes includes a fire that all but destroyed a large shed used by Mores Creek Ambulance. There was an estimated $75,000 in damage to the shed, which housed an ambulance and about $26,000 in medical supplies and furniture, said Ron Dotson, a member of the group of the all-volunteer ambulance corps. The Feb. 3 fire is believed to have been caused by heavy snow, which fell from the shed's roof and broke a propane line. "There was a slow propane leak, then the furnace kicked on," Dotson said. "The people who got the ambulance out are the true heroes. The neighbors in the area saw the shed on fire and the door had partially blown off." Nineteen volunteer firefighters from Wilderness Ranch Fire Protection responded to the fire about 1:30 p.m. that day. It wasn't easy, as almost two feet of fresh snow had fallen the night before. The aluminum and wood shed sits on a hillside on Rimview Road, more than a mile north of Idaho 21. Trainings were held in the building, which also had a bedroom for on-shift volunteer EMTs, which includes folks from all over the valley. It's a big loss for the all-volunteer ambulance corps, even though insurance will cover the loss of some of the medical supplies. "If we're lucky, we're going to get back $5,000 (for medical supplies)," Dotson said. Mores Creek Ambulance, which is part of the East Boise County Ambulance taxing district, has about 30 volunteers. Medical supplies are now scattered among volunteers' houses, and the ambulance is parked in a driveway. Dotson said the group is not sure if it will repair the shed and continue to operate there, or move to a location closer to Idaho 21. "We'd rather get rid of it and get down to Idaho 21," he said. That may be possible, as the Wilderness Ranch Fire Protection District plans to build a second station along Idaho 21. The district runs 12 miles along the highway - as far north as Thorn Creek and as far south as Robie Creek.
The new fire station could be expanded to include an ambulance bay, Fire Chief John McCarthy said. "We'd be amenable to that," McCarthy said.
The ambulance bay would add another $50,000 to the station's $200,000 price tag, he said. Dotson and McCarthy said it would be up to Boise County Commissioners to approve the proposal to co-locate Mores Creek Ambulance with the new Wilderness Ranch fire station. ========= Our deepest condolences to all affected but especially the wife, kids and family of Captain Stewart. Take Care-BE CAREFUL. Gotten Serious about SEAT BELT use at your FD yet? ========= Legislation would end field-burning secrecy By Betsy Z. Russell, Staff writer, Idaho Statesman
The new system is part of an agreement to allow field-burning to resume in Idaho. It’s been banned for the past year due to a federal court decision.
“They’ve reached a good compromise,” said state Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, the bill’s lead sponsor. “I think it’s a tool the agricultural industry needs. They’ve agreed to come under the monitoring from DEQ (the Department of Environmental Quality). I think it’s a win-win piece of legislation.”
In recent years, the state Department of Agriculture, which had been in charge of regulating field burning, maintained that an old public records law exemption about seed producers prevented it from releasing information about locations of planned field burns. State Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, proposed legislation to reverse that, but lawmakers killed it in committee.
The new legislation includes a specific clause declaring that information public. It also would cut off burning if air pollution levels exceed or are expected to exceed 75 percent of standards; and would put more state resources into analyzing air quality impacts. Much of the new regulatory system would be funded by a $2-per-acre fee on fields that are burned, giving it a fiscal impact on the general fund next year of just $185,700. In order for field burning to resume in Idaho, the legislation must pass and be signed into law, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must approve a new plan for Idaho’s compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.
An agreement announced last month among the state, grass growers and a clean-air group paved the way for the new legislation. ========= NationalFireAcademy (NFA) Training Opportunities (as of February 22, 2008) All vacancies are filled on a first come, first served basis and qualified by using the Student Selection Criteria listed on our Website: www.usfa.dhs.gov/nfa ======== Upcoming Training Opportunities: To Register: Call Toll Free Voice Mail at (COOP) Continuity of Operations Planning April 8-9 Hampton Inn Great Falls Pipeline Emergencies Train-the-Trainer Program Coming to Montana Training Officers Forum May 3-4 Hampton Inn Great Falls |