Fire chief outlines abilities, limits of fire response to Meredith islands

MEREDITH — To clear the air about public safety response for island communities, Chief Ken Jones addressed the selectboard last week, to clear up mistruths he'd heard. 

“Last meeting here, there were some words stated that I don’t think were correctly true at the present time,” Jones said at the meeting July 13. “My concern, as the public service fire chief leader here, is that we possibly do have some people who live on islands, maybe a little concerned at this point, to understand that fire coverage is little to none in a couple places.”

Jones was responding to public comments during the selectboard meeting June 22, when Oak Island resident Karen Sticht was speaking about an abatement for her property. The conversation turned to a claim the fire chief told the residents, on more than one occasion, “in no way a fire truck will ever come up on the island."

“It has nothing to do with the current bridge or the bridge we’re having fixed; it has to do with the length of the fire trucks and the fact that there’s no way to turn around,” Sticht said on June 22. “So, this is a little misleading that he advised that the current bridge is not safe for fire apparatus to cross in order to reach homes on the island.”

Sticht said the chief also gave information to her propane company that shut down service for the whole winter. She also alleged Jones told residents the department has to use the ladder truck for fires, and since ladder trucks need to extend, that is not possible on the island.

Jones provided history to show where gains were made to support such areas. According to a memo in the meeting agenda packet, this goes back 16 to 17 years. He said right after he started at the department, he was notified the Oak Island Bridge was going to be built.

Jones stated he was contacted by a resident on Oak Island asking about specifications for a new bridge to support the weight for fire apparatus. He referenced NFPA 1, Chapter 18, which covers fire department access. The resident told him the cost to design and build a bridge to meet those requirements would be too much.

“I advised that we could only use it if it supported us,” Jones said. “The bridge was built, and I never received any gross weight of what it supported.”

At that time, Jones said the department had a 1983 Engine 4, which would have served the area. A pump was lost in the truck, and it went out of service, and the apparatus was replaced.

“Given today, with the requirements, what we need, we need more water, we need bigger pumps due to the capacity of what we serve here with residentials gaining in square footage, and burning hotter and faster than what we used to years ago,” Jones said. “We have to increase the size of our trucks, and we felt that that bridge would not support what we currently had, or what we would be ordering in the future.”

Jones said, at that point, the Forestry 1 vehicle was “heading downhill” with rust and brake issues. The department received a grant to purchase a new vehicle in 2018, and officers determined they didn't just need a forestry truck, but rather a mini-pumper and forestry truck combined.

“To support some of the areas in which we could not get in with our bigger apparatus,” Jones said, adding it wasn’t just islands, but also some difficult driveways.

Once in service, this truck was determined to be the first apparatus for response of any fires on Oak Island, due to its weight and the capacity of the bridge. Jones wrote in the memo the new vehicle was designed not only for brush fires, but also access points where engines are not able to go.

It is equipped with a small amount of large diameter hose, hand lines, basic hand tools, and a 500-gallon-per-minute pump. It also has Class A Foam, which provides a 3:1 water ratio.

“So, we do have support, we can get apparatus in there, and not only that, seven to nine months out of the year we also have boat support,” Jones said. “Not only from Meredith, our fire boat, but Gilford could come in, as well. That’s on Lake Winnipesaukee. Understand that is not the only bridge we deal with.”

Like Black Cat Island Bridge, which he said has limited gross weight. A tanker is unable to cross the bridge, but engines can make it over. Jones said years before he worked in Meredith, the department responded to a building fire on Pike Island, and a truck was damaged when attempting to get there.

“We have taken these places into consideration, along with some of the driveways,” Jones said. “They have been identified, and we have a preplan for some areas that ask for us to respond and support to the best of our ability, our services.”

Selectboard member Mike Pelczar is a former lieutenant with Meredith Fire, and thanked Jones for the explanation, and said he didn’t know this information before.

Selectboard member Jeanie Forrester asked Jones if this information was shared directly with the person who spoke at the meeting. Jones said he could follow up directly, but when it was made public, she said there were several families concerned.

“I didn’t want that to mushroom, and go further.”