The KVFD encourages everyone to get out and vote on March 13th to help guide the future of our Town. This year you will see three warrant articles related to the Fire Department. This letter is designed to help you understand these articles and assist you in making an informed decision when voting. After careful analysis, your KVFD recommends a "Yes" vote on Articles 6, 11 and 14.

The most important article with regard to the operation of the Fire Department is Article 14. This article is designed to change the status of the Fire Department from a private entity to a municipal department. There are laws within New Hampshire that dictate how fire departments must be organized. As long as departments adhere to these requirements the firefighters and the towns they serve are offered protection from liability. Because our current structure is a private and not municipal Fire Department we may not be covered under this liability protection. The Kensington Selectman and Town Council have written this article to ensure we are afforded maximum liability protection under state law. The members of our Fire Department strongly support article 14 and a change in status to a municipal department.

The KVFD may give up some of the control we currently have with regard to officer and member appointments but we feel as an organization that the protection from liability is much more important. It is our intent to continue to serve the Town of Kensington with the best possible Emergency Services and ensure our day to day activity is not impacted through this transition. It is also important to note that article 14 will have no impact on the Fire Department Budget.   Please vote Yes on Article 14.

The Second article of importance is Article 6. This article requests permission to enter into a six year lease/purchase agreement to replace a pumper/tanker that is currently 26 years old. We have formed a truck committee to determine the lowest cost apparatus that will meet the needs of our town. We have found two potential vendors that have agreed to build this apparatus for $380,000. As you are well aware, using reliable, and capable apparatus is vital to safe and efficient fire ground operations. Unfortunately our town has seen an increase in the number of structure fires recently with 7 last year and 4 in the first 2 months this year. The KVFD urges the residents to support this purchase and provide your volunteer fire fighters with the equipment needed to safely carry out their job.

The third article related to the Fire Department is article 11 which requests that $15,675 be used from the current Ambulance Replacement Fund to purchase a Hydraulic stretcher for our ambulance. There is no impact to taxes for this request as the money is coming from the fund setup several years ago to capture payments made for transport of patients by our ambulance. This stretcher would be transferable to any new ambulance purchased in the future. We would like to gain the benefit of this piece of equipment now to reduce the chance of injuries to our EMTs incurred lifting heavy patients into and out of the back of the ambulance.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. If you have additional questions or concerns please contact us at info@kensingtonfirerescue.com, or stop by the station any Thursday night to speak with an officer.