Press Release

To the Citizens of the Fall River Valley,

**!!At this time the Fall River Valley Fire Protection District has and is providing emergency services to the district and surrounding communities though the service of dedicated volunteer firefighters.!!**

Due to the circulation of false and misleading information on social media, the Fire District wishes to inform the residents of Fall River Valley about several key facts concerning the recent restructuring of the Fire District’s relationship with the volunteer firefighters serving our community.

On the morning of October 2, (at a properly notified meeting in accordance with the Brown act) the Fire District Board voted to change the way it integrated the Volunteer firefighters into its structure.
Previously the Volunteers had operated as a semi-independent association that supported the fire districts responsibilities by providing an operational structure for the volunteers. However, this created several operational and liability concerns.

In order to simplify operational structure and mitigate risk concerns, the fire district board voted to restructure its relationship with the volunteer firefighters. This included two key elements,
1, All current and perspective volunteer firefighters would need to apply directly with the fire district.
2, All volunteer firefighters would serve within the new fire district volunteer structure.

At the end of the meeting Chief Rick Gomes received applications from a number of current and perspective volunteer firefighters and within a few hours had processed the applications.
To ensure that the citizens of the fire district were protected during the few hours that it took for the application approval process on Oct. 2, the neighboring fire departments provided emergency response coverage for the fire district during that time.

Allegations of a 4-month “suspension of services” are completely false. The application process includes a 4-month window to allow volunteer firefighters to meet specific requirements during the transition to the new structure. During this period, all approved volunteer firefighter can respond to incidents within the extent of their training and abilities. Additionally, all approved volunteer firefighters have full access to the Fire District’s facilities and equipment.

At this time the Fall River Valley Fire Protection District has and is providing emergency services to the district and surrounding communities though the service of dedicated volunteer firefighters.