Question and Submission History

The project's position is that fire equipment and training are a cost of the project, not something the town pays for. It is listed in the draft Community Benefits Plan for transparency. The plan is still a draft, so it is not a final commitment yet.

The operator must provide training to the fire department before the facility operates and every year after. The Emergency Action Plan is being built with Charlton Fire and will be reviewed by an independent reviewer the town selects and the project pays for. The draft Community Benefits Plan lists fire equipment and training. The project's position is that these costs belong to the project, not the town. The draft is not final. The planned response to a battery unit fire is defensive, with the unit allowed to burn out while the surroundings are protected.

This costing is underway with the Fire Chief now, covering equipment, training beyond code requirements, and mutual aid over multi-year horizons. Our position is that costs the facility creates belong to the project, not the town, for the life of the facility, including equipment replacement as it ages. NFPA 855, the national fire code governing these facilities, already requires initial and annual responder training as a code obligation, so ongoing training is a baseline requirement rather than a negotiated addition. The current plan work covers funding it and going beyond that baseline.

We are working with the Fire Chief on cost estimates for the fire department over three- and five-year horizons. The project's position is that costs the facility creates, including equipment replacement and ongoing training, belong to the project, not the town. The draft benefits plan will list each item with its funding source stated.