Fire Chief Barry Helmerichs has requested a supplemental appropriation — taken from video gaming proceeds — to buy a system that would coordinate traffic signals with emergency vehicles and reduce congestion in the city’s southwest side when crews respond to calls. Helmerichs said he made his request now in hopes the system would be operational during the holiday shopping season.  

Here’s how it works: A GPS-enabled unit in a fire rig communicates with a device in the traffic signal, which will turn green when it senses the emergency vehicle approaching . The system is supposed to reduce response times by 25 to 40 percent. Outfitting four fire vehicles and a few intersections along the Veterans Parkway corridor with the pre-emption system would cost about $105,000, Helmerichs has said.

At 72 square miles, Stowe is one of Vermont’s largest towns, and it’s why Stowe Fire Department wants to make sure it has enough ponds, lakes and even swimming pools to draw water from when fire strikes.

A new dry hydrant system at Commodores Inn brings the department one step closer to that goal.

A dry hydrant is a simple system that threads pipe under the surface of a water body with a connection on dry land for firefighting equipment. It can provide much-needed water when firefighters’ supplies run dry.

“It was basically a remodel,” Huffman said. “ We bought a brand new chassis (2017 V10 gasoline) and put the old box on the new frame. We did it all under $50,000.”

 

Firefighter Shawn Forster, who served as the lead mechanic, said it was truly team effort.

 

“The whole department really helped out on this,” he said.

Blais proposed that the cost of a new ladder truck, estimated at $930,000, be split evenly between Warrensburg and Lake George’s two municipalities, and that it would be stationed in Lake George between May and October, and in Warrensburg between November and April.  

Not only would such a joint ownership minimize acquisition costs, but it would likely improve response times, boosting public safety, Blais said.  

In recent years, the Lake George Fire Department has experienced delays in responding to daytime fire calls, primarily in the winter, because most of their fire company members are employed outside the village.

The council’s action appropriates $200,000 from the city’s equipment fund and $2,070,576 from its 2016-17 fiscal year general fund surplus to the capital improvement program’s fire apparatus replacement plan, staff reports state.  

Fire Chief Robert Mihovich told council members the current fire truck has a lot of mechanical problems, mostly age-related. He said new fire trucks turn better, which is important when responding to calls from high-density developments as well as older areas of the city. Mihovich asserted crews would be able to set up faster at fires with the newer apparatus too.