ROCK SPRINGS – The following is a community submission from Rock Springs Professional Fire Fighters Local 1499 Vice President Jason Cristanelli.
Everyday a Fire Engine may be seen with lights and sirens rushing to an emergency scene in the City of Rock Springs. These engines are staffed by Rock Springs Professional Firefighters Local 1499 who have worked with the Rock Springs Fire Department and the City of Rock Springs since 1964 in providing quality emergency services to our residents.
Over the years the RSFD service level has dramatically increased from primarily fire related emergency response to EMS, Hazmat, Rescue, and numerous other public service calls. With the growing community RS Fire Fighters have worked with the Department and the City of Rock Springs to advance Emergency response in line with national standards. Your Fire Fighters may respond from one of the three professional Fire Houses located throughout Rock Springs 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
Rock Springs Professional Fire Fighters continue to support staffing, equipment, and response standards set by the National Fire Protection Agency. These standards are extensively studied and reviewed by independent organizations to ensure resident needs are met and firefighters can perform an inherently dangerous job safely and timely with a final goal of stabilizing the incident.
Trying to meet and maintain standards set by the NFPA helps stabilize Rock Springs resident insurance rates. By meeting NFPA standards this allows the Insurance Service Offices (ISO) the ability to keep the City of Rock Springs classification of protection at a level that will not cause dramatic increases to insurance rates due to fire response.
The items reviewed by ISO include career staffing, equipment, response times, distance from fire stations, and water flow to name just a few. While a resident may have never used the 911 system when they do it’s because something has gone terribly wrong at that moment in their lives. Rock Springs Professional Firefighters will continue to work with the RSFD and City of Rock Springs to seek effective response. We will continue to seek a progression in the Rock Springs Fire Department that keeps insurance rates low, meets standards, and provides the tools needed to meet any challenge head on. Like Us on Facebook by searching IAFF Local 1499 RSFF and look for next month’s Hot Topic.
