Board approves fees for fire and rescue response

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Fire Board adopted a resolution establishing and implementing a program to charge mitigation rates for fire and rescue emergency and non-emergency services. This is an effort to provide the service that Fire Chief Dave Lane feels the community deserves. Medical and ambulance services billing is established and there will be no change.

Lane presented the board with the resolution for fire billing in preparation to transition to a different billing company. He said this is just the first step in making the transition and being transparent with the community.

Some of the things that will be charged for include motor vehicle incidents, HAZMAT response, fires, illegal burns, water rescue and backcountry or special rescue. While Lane said some of the responses are not typical, such as HAZMAT response, he wanted it included to allow the District to charge for the services in the future.

The rates were set based on the national averages. Lane said the rates are under what insurance companies have set aside to pay for these types of emergency responses. The insurance company will be the one billed.

“We are holding to a pretty high standard and in order to provide the services that the community deserves, we are going to bill so that we can provide that service,” said Lane.

Since the Seeley Lake Fire District is a tax-based fire department another option to increase services would be to raise taxes. However, Lane didn’t feel it was right to ask the community to pay for visitors since many visitors utilize the services, especially for accidents on the highway. The board agreed.

“As we grow and the more demand for services from the public, it demands more operating cost, it has to come from somewhere. This is one way to relieve some of the expense,” said Board Chair Scott Kennedy.

Vice-chair Gary Lewis said he has an issue charging for services when everyone in the Fire District pays taxes to the Department for emergency services.

“The taxes that you pay right now pay for wages, benefits, equipment but it doesn’t pay for the actual on scene work or the service,” said Lane.

Lane said that the public should call 9-1-1 instead of the station if they need emergency services. This speeds up the response because the Department cannot self-dispatch. It also helps them properly document all calls.

Lane responded to several questions from the board and the public in attendance. The questions are noted in bold with Lane’s response following unless noted otherwise.

What if the insurance doesn’t cover the full bill? The rates have been set based on the amount that insurance will pay. “We are not going to bill someone $700 knowing they will only pay $500,” said Lane. “That is why we are under the $500 threshold because that is what insurance companies are required to set aside for these types [accident and fire] of responses.”

If an individual does not have insurance then will they be responsible for it? Yes, they will still be billed and the person would be responsible for the bill. Lane expects communications will be much better with the new billing company making things more transparent. If it causes undue hardship to the person, the person can submit a written request to the Board to relieve the responsibility or explain the situation. Lane said the Board has the authority to come up with any solution that would be fair to the payee and the District and it doesn’t need to be discussed in an open meeting.

“We will make the right decisions,” said Kennedy. “And it can be done discreetly.”

What if someone refuses to call 9-1-1 because they don’t think they can afford the bill? If someone can’t afford the bill, they are encouraged to talk to the District and the Fire Board.

“We are never going to say don’t worry about the bill,” said Lane. “We are going to say we can help you with that later. Anyone who is willing to come in and explain their situation, the Board is very receptive to public input especially if this person is in a hardship. We are not here to put people in the poor house.”

Who is charged in a vehicle accident when there is more than one vehicle involved? The person at fault is billed. The billing company gets that information from Highway Patrol and then they determine who gets billed. Regardless of how many apparatus and personnel that respond the cost is $494 unless specialty services such as extrication or HAZMAT is required. Then additional charges can be applied.

Since the Fire Department is dispatched to all accident scenes, if someone declines services will they still be billed? Not necessarily if something is called in and no services are required. However, as soon as supplies are used, the District needs to be reimbursed.

The resolution includes charging for illegal burn response. Will someone be charged if the Department sends an engine to put out an illegal burn? There are situations where the Department has the ability to bill the insurance company$455 per hour per engine. If the person lives here, knows the regulations and/or has been talked to already, they will get a bill and they will get a notice of violation from the county.

Who is billed if a prescribed burn ignites a structure? The agency that lit the fire would be billed for the structure response.

Who is billed if someone’s home is on fire and it catches a neighbor’s home on fire? If the fire can be proven to come from one structure and spreads to another, then the neighbors’ insurance companies would need to sort out the bill.

“If they don’t have insurance then yours kicks in,” said Kennedy.

Won’t that cause insurance rates to increase? The Department doesn’t have any input into those decisions.

Why does Swan Valley Emergency Services not charge for response? All departments are entitled to charge this. Condon is a different department and they choose not to bill for ambulance or fire response.

Is there any thought of staffing a paid EMT for 24/7 service? The District is considering it but they are still trying to figure out how much that would cost. It will take at least three EMTs to cover 24-hour service and they have volunteer EMTs that respond to every medical call.

“Hiring an EMT will decrease our response times and provide ultimately better service,” said Lane. “Yes, we are trying to do that but it is going to take time. It is hard because so much of our volume [of calls] is from our guests. We are doing things to increase revenue.”

Trustee Rita Rossi added, “We are trying not to tax the people in the community.”

Lewis left before the board voted. The resolution to charge for fire and rescue response passed unanimously with the remaining three board members.

In an email following the meeting, the Pathfinder asked Lane to address the Chief’s Response that can be billed at $284 per hour for set-up of command and providing direction of an incident. Lane responded that the Chief’s response is for large incident management type response and would not be charged when the chief fills a responder role as a paramedic or firefighter.

In other business:

• The board elected officers. Kennedy and Lewis will remain as chair and vice-chair. Rossi was voted in as secretary.

The next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Fire Hall. The agenda and minutes are posted at seeleyfire.org.