The Town of Clayton will implement monthly inspections of all fire extinguishers and keep documentation for the fire marshal’s return inspection, council members decided at their Nov. meeting.

Speaker 1 summarized the fire marshal’s visit and corrected earlier remarks about extinguisher maintenance, noting that extinguisher checks are required monthly. The council reviewed an NFPA inspection checklist and agreed to assign responsibility for monthly checks, keep completed checklists in a three-ring binder at town hall, and maintain a similar binder at the sewer point facility. Speaker 1 said the commercial vendor (Courson or similar) performs annual maintenance and tagging.

In a related public-safety presentation, the fire department representative (Speaker 8) presented an annualized report and said the department has 39 members with eight vacancies, has provided mutual aid frequently, and so far this year has recorded 703 hours on emergency incidents and 938 runs year-to-date (compared with 1,032 last year). Speaker 8 described a recent residence fire in Clayton where the local crew was on scene and pulling a hose line within two minutes of dispatch, while mutual-aid engines arrived several minutes later — an example the speaker used to underline the importance of local staffing.

The department also reported 57 patient-care reports for the month across different ALS/BLS levels and that about 80% of hospital transports went to Hendrix. Staff said they will provide a monthly breakdown of these numbers going forward.

What’s next: Assigned town staff will begin monthly extinguisher inspections and compile the NFPA municipal-building checklist for the fire marshal's return visit on the 24th; the fire department will start submitting the monthly operational reports described to the council.