Stanley Fire Chief Korey Hagenson has looked into a Smokey the Bear sign for City

by Joseph Back The fire report is in, and the red flag says danger is high. In case the flag signal down at Stanley Fire on East First Avenue was lost on you, a more accessible Smokey the Bear sign could also be in the mix.

Not made official but looked into by the Stanley Fire Department within the last two weeks was a Smokey the Bear sign for Stanley and the replacing the station sign out in front of the station, as well as painting the building some time, Fire Chief Korey I lagenson wrote in a recent Council report. The station sign is currently held up by a supporting metal bracket on one of its wooden legs.

Also listed in Chief I lagenson’s report for completed work over the last two weeks was cleaning the fire trucks and station, sending a jacket in for repair, replacing the batteries on tender (water See FIRE DANGER, Page 6

A special red flag flies below the Stars and Stripes outside the Stanley Fire Station. Meant to alert residents to extreme fire danger, the flag was later taken down locally, while fast -spreading springtime wildfires remain an ever present threat. Staff photo based on tip. FIRE DANGER

FROM PAGE 1 truck) 2, ordering replacement MED supplies, and a hazmat class Monday night, along with a chiefs meeting and MABAS. Then there were more technical issues to address.

“The wording on the water bill needs to be changed,” Fire Chief Korey Hagenson told the Council in his most recent biweekly report, submitted for Council review May 3. “It states public fire but has nothing to do with the fire department,” he goes on of the water bill. “It t should say ‘hydrant rental’ and the taxes should say public fire. I get asked about it all the time and it needs to be changed,” Hagenson repeated.

Brought up later at the Council later on, Clerk Nicole Thiel said it had to be worded that way due to the organization regulating it.

“They’re very particular on wording,” she said.

As to equipment, Hagenson told the Council that the department was going to be taking its brush truck out of service, as it was “not road legal or safe anymore.” Among the brush truck’s issues are leaking fuel, being overweight “for what the truck is,” along with a transmission and transfer case oil leak that needs to be repaired. “Once again, our trucks are old and in need of replacing,” Hagenson told the Council in his report. That wasn’t all, though.

“What is the council’s plan for the parade this year?” the Fire Chief asks. “The fire fighters feel that we should not do it anymore as no other fire departments do,” he writes.

“If we are to still do it this year and the coming years we feel that we should be getting paid for it and not ‘donate’ our time anymore,’ he wrote.

As to work in the next two weeks, listed in the fire chief’s report are the following: EMT class Fire and EMS reports Service Trucks Looking into safety gear for EMR responders Repairing one old 4 gas meter Repairing one SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) Reprogramming department radios and pagers to the new tower; and Looking at a DNR grant for a new brush truck.

Last but not least was a drain on Franklin Street, which is sinking into the ground outside the fire station. The road doubles as County Highway H, but the drain itself falls outside the county’s right-of-way as measured 11 feet from the center on each side, for 22 feet total. That makes it the likely responsibility of the city to repair, though nothing official was enacted at the Monday May 3 Council meeting. Meanwhile, a public hearing for a City resident’s repair bill brought up another issue: contractors that know, don’t use Fernco, except as a very temporary fix. A stubbed pipe from the resident’s property had been bottlenecked eleven years earlier, leading more recently to water service failure and a repair bill up for dispute, with no action being taken by the city committee in charge of these things.

“Shoddy workmanship,” Water operator Don Goettl said of the Fernco patch job, saying the inspector should have caught it at the time. Final decisions on any liability for the city were left to further ordinance review and investigation at the May 3 meeting.

“We have to see how this affects us now and into the future,” Alderman Mark Fitzsimmons said, with City ordinance stating that the property owner is responsible from the hookup to the street.

In the meantime, watch those pipe splices.