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Select Board approves ALS contract transition; chief authorized on Pease mutual-aid foam use
Summary
The Select Board approved a new advanced life support (ALS) services contract and voted to allow the fire chief discretion to use Pease Air Force Base mutual-aid foam in life-safety emergencies, while noting concerns about contract language and potential PFAS liability.
Kingston’s Select Board approved a transition of advanced life support services and authorized the fire chief to sign a related mutual-aid agreement with Pease Air Force Base that would permit use of Pease foam in extreme circumstances.
Fire Chief Pellerin presented the ALS agreement the board had reviewed previously and said the town will pay the same amount currently budgeted for ALS coverage. The existing provider’s services will end March 21 and the new provider (identified in meeting remarks as Plasto/Plastow ALS) would begin on March 21 with no lapse in service; the contract period runs through next April. The chief said the first year will include information-gathering and monthly meetings among the town and the new provider to review operations.
Board members asked about a provision in the contract that described certain locations as covered “if staffing permitted,” a phrase the chief said he would clarify with the new provider. The chief said the intended operational model includes one unit in Brentwood and an additional unit in Plasto (as described to the board by the provider), but that vehicle deployment could shift if usage patterns required moving the unit to cover other towns.
Pellerin also described a separate mutual-aid agreement with Pease Air Force Base that would permit use of base foam in a large-scale incident. He noted that some military-grade foams have historically contained PFAS chemicals and that towns that accepted such foam for mutual aid had faced contamination lawsuits in other jurisdictions (the chief referenced a previous case in another town). The chief recommended the board allow him the discretion to use Pease’s foam in a last-resort, life-safety scenario; he said legal counsel had reviewed related documents for other towns and that he would provide the board the contracts. The board moved, seconded and approved allowing the chief to sign the Pease mutual-aid agreement as appropriate; the board recorded voice ayes.
Why it matters: The actions secure continuous ALS coverage for Kingston and give the fire chief limited authority to use a mutual-aid foam resource in extreme incidents, while raising questions about contract language and environmental liability.
