The Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the first time since 1980 is proposing to update guidelines for fire departments. While the guidelines are intended to increase firefighter safety, if they are enacted, departments will see huge increases in their budgets, and for some, it could mean they will have to close their doors.
Mountain Home Fire Chief Kris Quick says the proposal, which is 608 pages long, has some good points when it comes to safety, but the expenses are tough to swallow, especially when it comes to fire trucks.
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Quick says Mountain Home has three fire trucks that will be non-compliant immediately if the OSHA proposal is passed.
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The Mountain Home Fire Chief says if the proposal passes, all the changes could also affect insurance rates based on the Insurance Services Office or ISO ratings.
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Quick says he has seen a video from a fire station in New York saying they will have to close down if OSHA passes the new guidelines. While Mountain Home would not shut down its fire department, the fire chief said if the proposal passes, he would have some difficult choices to make because there is no government funding to implement what is being proposed.
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Quick says he and many other fire chiefs across the country are writing letters to OSHA. He says they know they cant stop the proposal, but they hope they can lessen the costs to fire departments.
The comment period is open until July 22.
In part two of our story about the OSHA proposal tomorrow, we will hear from Michael Glotzl, the Gassville Fire Chief and the Chairman of the Baxter Fire Chiefs Association, who will discuss how the proposal will affect volunteer departments.
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/OSHA-2007-0073
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