FirmhandKY
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quote:
ORIGINAL: tazzygirl
"A Presentation Regarding The Establishment And Implementation of a County-Wide Fire Department," dated March 18, 2008, describing exactly how fire services work in the County of Obion
Some interesting information in this document:
Overview:
Fire service is without question a basic life/property saving emergency service. It is no less important than law enforcement, rescue, and emergency medical services. No other emergency agency responds solely on a subscription basis, ability to pay basis or under the threat of not responding if you don’t pay your bill. Counties will be called upon to provide higher levels of fire protection services and must begin to plan for these issues prior to the occurrence of a crisis or catastrophe.
On January 19, 1987, the Obion County Commission passed a resolution establishing an Obion County Fire Department, but no action was taken to implement the resolution. Therefore, Obion County has a county fire department on paper, but is unmanned, unfunded and not operational.
Currently there are 8 municipal departments in Obion County which are providing fire protection for most of Obion County’s rural areas. These departments are
•Hornbeak Fire Department
•Kenton Fire Department
•Obion Fire Department
•Rives Fire Department
•Samburg Fire Department
•South Fulton Fire Department
•Troy Fire Department
•Union City Fire Department
In addition, the Obion County Rescue Squad responds to rural grass and vehicle fires in designated areas. There are currently areas of Obion County which rely on fire departments from outside Obion County for their fire protection (Ridgely Fire Department from Lake County, Trimble Fire Department from Dyer County, and Sidonia Fire Department from Weakley County), and there is approximately 15 square miles of southwestern Obion County which has no fire protection.
Three (3) of the municipal departments are offering services on a subscription basis, and five (5) municipal departments are offering services on an as needed basis without subscription or ability to pay for response. The municipal fire departments which utilize a subscription service are not bound to and do not respond to fires on rural properties which do not have a subscription for fire service. The only rural property owners guaranteed to receive fire protection services are those who choose to pay for it. It they choose not to purchase an annual subscription and require fire protection services, they fall on the mercy of a municipal department who provide services on an as needed basis. When such occurs, the responding fire department normally provides those services without compensation.
According to survey information, over 75% of all municipal fire department’s structure calls are rural. All fire departments in Obion County charge a $500.00 fee per call in rural areas, but collections are, less than 50% and the fire departments have no way of legally collecting the charge. Therefore, the service was provided at the expense of the municipal tax payer.
Because there is no operational county fire department, Obion County has missed the opportunity to actively pursue receipt of FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars of funding. By taking the steps to make the county fire department operational, Obion County could apply for these grants to provide much needed equipment and funding for the existing fire departments and equip additional fire departments when the need arises.
Even though most municipal fire departments in Obion County have benefited from AFG and CDBG grants to upgrade apparatus and equipment, each department must have operating funds to continue operations. Each individual municipality currently furnishes operating funds for their fire departments without assistance from the county or state. Federal, state and local mandates for training, apparatus, equipment and personnel are costing each fire department more money each year, and fire departments desperately need additional operating funds to stay caught up with these mandates.
Grant funds alone won’t fund the annual operating budget of a fire department. Annual appropriations from local sources are needed for additional operational funds to ensure our municipal fire departments remain organized in a manner to meet the current and future challenges of rural Obion County.
United States Fire Administration (USFA) surveys indicate the following:
•Over 70% of all fire personnel in the U.S. are volunteer.
•21% of volunteer fire departments have 4 or fewer personnel respond to a mid-day structure fire
•Personnel lack formal training in structural firefighting
•Personnel lack state certification in structural firefighting
•Many volunteer fire departments do not have enough portable radios or pagers
•Many volunteer fire departments are not properly equipped with Self-contained Breathing Apparatus or personal protective equipment.
Some of the obstacles encountered by small, volunteer fire departments because of limited funding are:
•Recruitment of fire department members
•Retention of fire department members
•Operating funds necessary to maintaining NFPA /ISO/OSHA requirements
•Equipment purchase without grant funds
•Apparatus purchase without grant funds
•Meeting training requirements for firefighters
Purpose:
To formally establish a county-wide fire department which will provide quality fire protection and emergency response to all areas of Obion County in a timely manner with no subscription fees or requirements for response.
Scope of Project:
Utilize apparatus, personnel, fire stations and equipment of existing 8 municipal fire departments to provide countywide fire protection.
Future addition of two (2) additional stations and equipment to reduce response times and improve coverage areas.
Provide annual funding for each municipal fire department from Obion County to help fund rural fire protection.
Benefits:
Fire Protection/emergency response to all areas of Obion County
Lower ISO rating for rural areas of Obion County that would mean lower homeowner insurance premiums.
By utilizing existing fire department resources, Obion County would save approximately $5,000,000.00 in initial equipment investment in the establishment of a county-wide fire department.
Establishment of county-wide fire protection fits in with Obion County growth plan for prospective businesses and homeowners.
Multiple fire departments responding to structure fires under the automatic aid/mutual aid agreement would greatly increase firefighter safety and capabilities.
Gives municipal fire departments the ability to be more self-reliant instead of relying on State and Federal grants, which are not guaranteed.
Explanation of the countywide fire protection plan
Our common goal is to provide fire protection to all areas of Obion County without discrimination from lack of insurance, lack of subscription, ability to pay, or the decision that it’s outside of a fire department’s designated area of operation. A major portion of Obion County has been furnished rural fire protection free of charge for decades.
Statistics indicate that the majority of all fire calls are rural in nature and are responded to by municipal fire departments. These departments are solely funded by the tax dollars belonging to each individual town or city. It is becoming more difficult to convince municipal leaders that the municipal fire departments responding to calls outside the municipal boundaries and for which no compensation is guaranteed is “just the right thing to do”.
The plan being presented would utilize the existing municipal fire departments in Obion County, which have much needed apparatus, equipment and personnel in place. If these departments are utilized effectively, Obion County will have no need to duplicate the existing departments for rural fire coverage alone. However, two additional departments may be needed in some of the more remote areas of the county (north central and south western Obion County) in the future.
If you are interested in this type of stuff, it's a very well put together document, and it seems pretty accurate to me.
So ... why didn't the county go through with it, and why should the cities use their budget for the citizens of the county who refuse to do it for themselves, even when they recognize that they need to do so?
Local politics, (and politicians) I suspect.
Firm
_____________________________
Some people are just idiots.
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