By Rich Pollack
Highland Beach agreed to pay Boca Raton $1,000 an hour should it need a backup fire engine and $2,000 an hour should a backup fireboat be needed to supplement the town’s new fire department — but only in an emergency.
The town will also pay Boca Raton $700 an hour per unit for a backup rescue unit, brush truck and command unit in an emergency.
“This collaboration aims to enhance the effectiveness of our emergency response capabilities, ensuring quicker and more comprehensive support to improve the overall safety and well-being of our residents,” Highland Beach Fire Rescue Chief Glenn Joseph wrote in a memo to the Town Commission.
The agreement, which still must be approved by the Boca Raton City Council, came to the Highland Beach Commission last month just short of three months since the town started its own fire department after severing its decades-long relationship with Delray Beach Fire Rescue.
“This is absolutely the right direction to be going in,” Highland Beach Commissioner Evalyn David said.
Efforts to hammer out a similar interlocal agreement with Delray Beach and even Boca Raton had previously failed due to several factors, including Highland Beach Fire Rescue’s unproven track record.
“There was a reluctance on the part of our neighbors, partially because of the politics of our breakup with Delray. But also because there was doubt about our ability to help them,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said.
While previous discussions included possible mutual or automatic aid agreements, the pact with Boca Raton is strictly a fee-for-service contract, which does not require Highland Beach to provide any services to the much larger Boca Raton Fire Rescue.
But Joseph says he is hoping to strengthen the relationship with the neighboring city and maybe enter into a mutual aid agreement in the future, which could reduce costs.
“They don’t think we have enough resources to reciprocate,” he said.
Both the chief and the town manager say they are working hard to change that perception.
“We’re prepared to prove ourselves,” Labadie said.
Boca Raton Fire Rescue has more than 250 employees and eight fire stations while Highland Beach has just over 30 employees along with two ladder trucks and two rescue vehicles.
Joseph said the agreement with Boca Raton makes sense because both departments have the same medical protocols and same medical director, both have the same number of personnel on a truck and both transport patients to the same hospital.
The fee Boca Raton is charging of $1,000 per hour per truck, he said, is based on personnel costs and on state and national fee schedules.
Should Boca Raton need to run a hazardous materials call in Highland Beach, there would be no charge because there is a Regional Hazmat Response Team agreement between local departments.
Under terms of the proposed one-year agreement with Boca Raton, only Highland Beach’s fire captains or an incident commander can request the city’s assistance. The city then may decline to provide the assistance or determine how much help to provide.
The agreement is also very specific in determining under what circumstances Highland Beach can seek assistance from Boca.
“The town understands and agrees that it shall not seek the city’s assistance pursuant to this agreement in order to supplement or subsidize the town’s normal day-to-day operations or the town’s shortages in staffing and/or equipment,” the agreement states.
The agreement also spells out who will take the reins in the event of a major incident, with the Highland Beach incident commander directing all activities, but Boca Raton employees being under the command of their city leadership on scene.
While Joseph and town commissioners say they are grateful to Boca Raton for the partnership, they are hoping they’ll never need to take advantage of it.
“We’ve got it, we’ll likely never use it, but if we need it, it’s there,” Joseph said.
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