BUCKFIELD – Selectmen on Tuesday night appointed Tom Standard to the Oxford County Incident Management Assistance Team.

Standard already serves the Emergency Management Agencies in Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner.

The Incident Management Team is designed to establish a command structure at large-scale incidents. Team members prepare through training and exercises to assist local responders. Any event that lasts from 12 to 24 hours is considered a large-scale incident as local responders are not equipped to be on the scene that long.

Oxford County Emergency Director Scott Parker is notified any time three or more fire departments are called out. He said, “I then evaluate the possibility that we will have to call on members for the IMAT. I have experts from multiple fields on call and will pull a team together to assist.”

He cited a plane crash in Bethel when more resources were needed and the team was put in motion.

Oxford IMAT has a van equipped with communications capabilities to contact team members and to reach those in adjacent counties if needed. The van acts as a command center to assist the incident commander. Parker says responders don’t take over an incident, but are there for support.

The board continued a budget workshop to discuss the suggested budget for 2008. It asked that Town Manager Glen Holmes check to see what other towns were giving for raises to their administrative staff. The 2008 budget suggests a 3 percent increase.

Heating fuel accounted for the largest increase in the Municipal Center budget, with a proposed 26.83 percent jump.

The Board said it was pleased to see the debt service down 13.24 percent after several debts were paid off.