Crescent board votes to continue agreement with Rhinelander Fire Department

It was a split decision but the Crescent Town Board resolved Wednesday evening to continue its automatic aid agreement with the City of Rhinelander. Supervisor Kyla Waksmonski joined town chairman Robb Jensen in voting in favor of continuing the arrangement with the city while supervisor Mike Pazdernik dissented.

“Automatic aid is assistance dispatched automatically by contractual agreement between two communities of fire department (districts),” according to the agreement.

The present agreement calls for Rhinelander firefighters and equipment to be dispatched for structure fires and the other “car accidents with injuries located within the geographical area of Crescent Township.”

The vote was necessary because Crescent’s volunteer fire chief, Keven Mahner, had proposed removing the City of Rhinelander’s full-time fire department from the automatic aid agreement established in 2016. 

Mahner’s position has been that the Rhinelander Fire Department has been repeatedly called out to “minor accidents where actually, we (Crescent) don’t even need to be there.”

“We have vehicles with no injury, people up and walking around, cars in the ditch, not on fire, no lane blockage, no nothing,” he said during a Nov. 29 town board meeting.

No decision was made at that time but town chairman Robb Jensen said the topic would be on the Dec. 13 meeting agenda. He acknowledged to The Lakeland Times there were some items he needed to research and noted that the safety of town residents is ultimately the town board’s responsibility.

Response time an issue

During Wednesday’s meeting, several Crescent residents spoke in favor of keeping the auto aid agreement with Rhinelander. 

The first to speak was Craig Metz, who said he was a member of the Crescent volunteer fire department for six years before finishing his career as a member of the Rhinelander Fire Department “five years ago.”

“I just heard this topic was going on and just to bring a little light to it, I believe it’s all about response time,” he said, before proceeding to share with the town board a scenario that involved an emergency situation in Crescent. 

Metz said he drove his vehicle from the Rhinelander Fire Department to the location of his notional incident in six minutes and 44 seconds. 

“That’s the en route time,” he said. “That’s not from time of page, which can vary but generally, I believe Rhinelander’s got a one-minute response time.”

Metz said for the Crescent Fire Department, he used Town Pump Bar, not far from the fire station, as a home base. 

“I think generally, that’s pretty accurate,” he said.

From there to the fire station was four minutes.

“I allowed two minutes to get out, park your car, get in the station, get your gear on, fire up the truck, get the doors open and get out the door,” he said. “I think that’s pretty fair. Then I drove from there to the same scene, which is seven minutes, 52 seconds. A total of 13 minutes and 52 seconds. That was a difference of seven minutes and eight seconds. It doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s a lot.”

Metz said when the Rhinelander Fire Department gets to a scene, they have three paramedics or emergency medical technicians.

“They’re all airpack-certified,” he said. “They can all run the ‘jaws of life,’ of course. If there’s a fire, they can put it out. If there’s injuries, they’re right there.”

Crescent resident Nathan Bates said he believes the town and Rhinelander should keep the auto aid agreement. 

“I also think our departments should work well in our area,” he said. “We’re a pretty small community. We don’t have a lot of departments so we rely on each other for everything.”

Bates said in his opinion, what’s going on now is “there’s just a misunderstanding between some people that both have a little power and they’re pissed off at each other.”

“I don’t believe the residents deserve to pay for that ... the biggest thing is our response time, which Craig just said,” he told the board. “That is a huge thing. Anybody in their right mind, in my opinion, that would not utilize a service that is there full-time, all the time, for our residents and our community, they’re out of their mind.”

Bates was the last in-person speaker.

To round out the discussion, town clerk Tracy Hartman read text messages and emails from residents Pat Vlhakis, Steve Dahlquist, John Taylor and Curt Metz all stressing the need for the town to keep the auto aid agreement with Rhinelander intact. 

‘Blown out of proportion’

When the discussion shifted to the town board, Jensen passed out copies of the agreement and a summary sheet outlining items he’s researched, such as the powers of the Crescent town board, to Waksmonski and Pazdernik. 

To bolster his argument that the town board, and not Mahner, has the ultimate authority to change or not change the auto aid agreement with Rhinelander, Jensen included a passage from Article II of the fire department’s constitution and bylaws.

“The Department recognizes that they are organized under the town of Crescent and the Crescent Fire Board (Town Board) is ultimately responsible for governing of the Fire Department,” Jensen quoted from the fire department’s bylaws. 

Also in Jensen’s summary was a portion of an email received earlier that day from Gary Peck, the fire prevention coordinator for the State of Wisconsin. 

“I also recommend to please follow any local Fire Department or Town Ordinances or By-Laws that currently may be in place that you and the FD are required to follow,” Peck said in his email to Jensen, who also cited Wisconsin state statutes which state the town board “shall provide for fire protection for the town.”

“Fire protection for the town, or any portion of the town, may be provided in any manner” the state statute reads, to include the establishment of a fire department. 

Jensen also pointed out the dispatch center for the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office is not in support of the Town of Crescent removing Rhinelander from the auto aid agreement and pointed in his summary to another passage from Peck’s email from earlier in the day. 

“FD should not cancel and agreement until new agreements have been updated and implemented by all parties involved and truly work with the Town & all parties involved to provide the best Fire & Emergency Services possible to all that they serve,” he wrote.

“I just think that’s where we’re at,” Jensen said. 

He then gave Mahner the floor. 

“This has been blown so far out of proportion,” Mahner said. “It’s unbelievable.”

He then repeated something he told the town board during the Nov. 29 meeting. 

“For anyone to think the Town of Crescent Volunteer Fire Department or myself would put anybody in this township in danger is beyond belief,” he said. “We are simply restructuring our aid agreements to benefit the town.”

During the November meeting, Mahner noted that there were chiefs from several Oneida county towns present “to explain how they do it and how their MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System)  box cards are set up.”

“We’re not talking MABAS,” Jensen said. “Mr. chairman ...” Mahner began. 

“Keven, I run the meeting,” Jensen said, interrupting. 

“Mr. Chairman ...” Mahner began again and once again, Jensen interrupted him. 

“Keven,” he said. “According to your bylaws, you understand how to run a meeting. I’m saying to you this is not about MABAS. Please stay focused on the auto aid agreement and the auto aid agreement only. “

 Mahner repeated the background he shared at the Nov. 29 meeting with regard to the establishment of the auto aid agreement with the Rhinelander Fire Department back in 2016.

 The agreement states “car accidents with injuries” but Mahner said the agreement was “set up for severe auto accidents.”

“It wasn’t set up to come out to a car versus deer, a car in a ditch where everyone’s walking around, no debris, no lane blockage, no nothing,” he said, referring to recent training received from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that he said advised “the less apparatus and commotion you have at the scene, the better.”

“That’s all we’re simply doing,” Mahner said. “We are not saying we are never gonna call Rhinelander Fire. We will call them as needed for anything that is severe and major.”

At that point, a disagreement broke out between Mahner and Jensen as to when the topic was first brought to the attention of Rhinelander Fire Chief Brian Tonnancour. Mahner said it was July of this year while Jensen claimed it was October. 

Mahner said Jensen saying it was October was “a lie” and in his final remarks, also invited people to sign up to join the fire department. 

Maintaining he was concerned with the town of Crescent and not what other towns are doing, Jensen made a motion to keep the auto aid agreement with Rhinelander in place.

“I do not want to have the Rhinelander Fire Department called down before there’s an evaluation of the incident,” he said. “I think that is in the best interest and the safety and welfare of our people and the people that use the roads.”

Pazdernik didn’t disagree that the agreement shouldn’t be changed but stayed with his contention there needed to be input from other towns and when Jensen called the question, he voted against the motion. 

It came down to Waksmonski who, after some hesitation, voted with Jensen to keep the agreement in place.

Brian Jopek may be reached at [email protected].