Hazmat Contract Extended, New Fire Code Approved

The Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department Special Board of Commissioners agreed to extend its hazardous materials team contract with San Mateo County and approved a new fire code at Tuesday night's meeting.

The board gave the green light on extending the fire department's hazmat contract with the county, which expired on June 30, for a year. After that, the contract will likely be renewed on a month-to-month basis until the fire protection district dissolves in October 2011, according to Fire Chief Doug Fry.

Even though the contract expired in June, other San Mateo County agencies have still been relying on the hazmat team. Fry said the board only met once since the contract expired, and at that meeting requested additional information on the hazmat contract before approving it Tuesday.

"There were no interruptions to service during that time," Fry said.

Despite the extension of the hazmat contract, Fry said it still remains to be seen what will happen to the hazmat team when the fire protection district splits.

The hazmat team, comprised of 27 members, responds to about 50 calls per year. The Belmont-San Carlos Fire Protection District was one of the first agencies in the state to implement a hazmat team when it was established in 1984.

Fry said it will cost at least half a million dollars to train a new hazmat team for the county.

The Board of Commissioners also approved the agency's new fire code Tuesday, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2011. The fire code, which is updated every three years, was adopted and amended from the state fire code.

Fire Marshal Jim Palisi said only minor changes were implemented to make the new code more "user-friendly."

The new code is expected to be available on the Fire Protection District's website.

The next Board of Commissioners meeting will take place on Nov. 10 at the San Carlos Public Library.