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The Williston Fire Department provides EMS and Fire Services to anyone in Williston. This past year, we responded to 1,365 calls, 643 of which were Fire and 722 EMS. Currently, there are 6 EMTs, 18 Firefighters, 10 Firefighter/EMTs and 3 Fire Police in the Department. These dedicated members of your community provide emergency protection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The past year has been a challenging and exciting one for our department. Construction of the Fire Department building is well under way with a tentative completion date of May 2007. We are extremely excited about consolidating all of our apparatus and people into one facility. To allow for construction of the new Police facility, we moved out of the Fire Department building on Williston Road. Our administrative headquarters moved to the small white building on the corner of Central School Drive and Williston Road, formerly the Sweet Pea Shop. During this time, we have had equipment and trucks stored in 13 different locations. This has created many operational challenges which the entire Department has very successfully managed. Williston added 4 full-time Firefighter/EMTs this past year. These individuals are providing daytime coverage Monday through Friday during a time when our call staff is typically much less available. We are very proud to be the recipient of a federal SAFER Grant for $621,000. This grant is intended to assist departments with funding Firefighter/EMT positions. This is a 5 year grant intended to partially fund 6 full-time positions. We are very honored and excited to be chosen as a recipient. I am proposing to the Selectboard and to the voters that we accept this grant and add 6 full-time positions. This will provide a guaranteed response of 3 individuals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, I am proposing that we purchase 2 ambulances that will be housed in the new Fire Station. Currently Williston does not have its own ambulance service. With this additional personnel, we would be able to staff an ambulance; thereby reducing response time to anyone who has a medical emergency in Williston. As an added benefit, the cost of transports, which is currently being paid to other vendors, would stay in Williston to help defray the cost of the additional staffing. We continue to be a busy department responding to a large variety of emergencies and providing many services to the community. A brief description of each service follows: EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES Williston EMS continues to provide high quality medical care to residents and visitors to Williston. All EMS personnel are trained and certified to the minimum level of EMT Basic. In addition, we have 8 EMTs who have further achieved the EMT Intermediate level. The types of calls we respond to are varied and include: seizures, strokes, heart attacks, motor vehicle accidents, home accidents, overdoses, and assaults. Williston EMS is dispatched by Saint Michael's College. At all times, one Crew Chief is on duty along with a medic. EMT's sign up for duty slots, and must remain in Williston for the duration of their shift. When a call is received, on-duty EMT's respond directly from their home or work to the call location and perform initial patient assessment, initiate primary medical care, and communicate with the oncoming ambulance. It can be critical as well as reassuring to have Williston EMS personnel arrive quickly to provide assistance and medical direction until an ambulance arrives. A transporting ambulance is also dispatched with Williston EMS. Williston's primary ambulance is Saint Michael's College located in Colchester. When Saint Michael's ambulance is not available, an ambulance from Essex, UVM, Richmond, or South Burlington is sent. Williston EMS operates a First Response Vehicle that is equipped with oxygen, trauma supplies, a defibrillator, and all medical supplies needed to initiate treatment. Williston EMS also operates an off-road Rescue sled, snowmobile, ATV and trailer.