By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Casco Fire Chief Brian Cole is sounding the alarm about costly changes that could be on the horizon.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing to change the standards for firefighters, Chief Cole said.

For fire stations in rural areas, coming into compliance with the proposed standards could be a costly proposition, he said. In fact, the expense is one that some smaller stations will not be able to afford.

However, there is hope — any citizen can offer their two cents and protest the changes during a public comment period.

The big news is that July 22 is the new deadline for people to submit comments to OSHA.

“The public comment period was just extended for a second time. OSHA will be accepting public comments from now until July 22 — almost another month to give time for more review and to get more public comment,” Cole said last week.

Chief Cole believes that OSHA’s potential updates are something citizens should be alerted about.

“It is a huge undertaking for OSHA. It is going to very damaging for smaller fire stations,” Cole said. 

“Their goal is to update the standard from 1980. That comes at a cost. That is going to come at the cost of 100s of thousands of dollars. If this OSHA standard gets pushed through, my budget is going to skyrocket. In turn, the town’s budget is going to skyrocket. It is a bleak outlook,” he said. 

“There is a good aspect. They are focusing on the safety. Safety is a big thing for my guys to live by,” Cole said.

If the OSHA standards passed, personal protection equipment would need to be replaced every 10 years and all firefighting vehicles would need to be replaced after 20 years. 

Additionally, the training budget would increase since more frequent trainings will be required. Also, medical screenings will be more involved and issued more often.

“The requirements for medical clearances would be more stringent,” Cole explained. “A person who wants to qualify for firefighting will have to go several different exams: Heart and lung screenings. Those will be continual. On top of the cost of an annual examination, we will have to compensate employees for leaving work if they can’t do it on their own time,” he said.

Many fire stations would have to be retrofitted so that there will be separations to keep the people away from their gear, which needs to be decontaminated after a fire. 

“We would have to create a separate room to decontaminate dirty gear. Dirty gear cannot be in the living area. Separate living quarters are needed so contaminated gear is not there. The employees will have to take a decon shower. The list goes on and on,” Cole explained.  

“These are things that are going to impact us. The citizens have to understand it isn’t coming from me. These are federal standards. It is OSHA’s proposed changes for firefighters and emergency responders,” he said. 

“I urge everyone to read the summary… Anyone can make a comment,” Cole said. The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) published an article on April 9 regarding the elongated comment period. NVFC stressed the importance of urging citizen to comment.

“The proposed updated standard would issue several new requirements that would be very burdensome, in many case impossible to comply with,” the article said.  

“It is important that OSHA receive the most detailed picture possible of how difficult it would be for volunteer department to comply with this proposed standard,” according to the NVFC publication.

The town’s website, cascomaine.org has a link to the OSHA Emergency Response rule. People can review a summary of the proposal. People can submit a comment. Anybody who has more questions can contact Chief Cole, 627-4515 , ext. 1301. Residents of Naples can reach out to Naples Fire Chief Justin Cox, 693-6852.