SAFER grant submitted for county

The Polk County Fire Department is looking to get some financial help to put in place a plan for a mixed paid-volunteer system, which would also require the shift of stations and hiring of full time employees.

As the new plan remains in opening stages of development as County Manager Matt Denton and Emergency Management director Randy Lacey, they have seen one big need immediately: get help from the federal government to pay for it.

That’s where the county’s application for the SAFER grant comes in, or the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant, which the county is seeking to get $500,000 to fund fire- fighters at seven stations across the county in the future at all hours, having one paid person on call at all times while still relying on the help of volunteers to run to emergecny calls and lend a hand.

Lacey said during the Feb. 13 county commission work session that the paperwork is in for the SAFER grant, and now it will just be a matter of waiting and seeing what happens.

“As long as I’m here, we’ll never do away with volunteers. They’re a valuable asset. But we need to get a man in each station,” he said previously.

The plan to fund firefighters and pay for station movement also centers around assessing a fire fee on tax bills, which will be figured based on the property size and type for local resi- dents to subsidize operations and paid firefighters.

Firefighters currently are all volunteer-based in Polk County at nine stations across the area, but recent increases in the amount of time it takes to get to fires, and outlying areas seeing an increase in their Insurance Service Organization rating for fire protection, Lacey believes its time to make a change.

Though he only informed the commission about the latest work being done to provide reliable fire protection services ot the community, he also had a request for the purchase of two new trucks for his department.

Brush trucks will be purchased using Special Purpose, Local Option Sales Tax funds that would have been used to buy larger equipment, but Lacey sought to get smaller trucks instead.

His plan is to phase out pickup trucks modified to carry equipment already from stations since engines and pumper trucks now have more capacity to carry tools and supplies used to fight fires at homes and businesses across the county.

Where Lacey said his department has been lacking in resources is when they have to fight brush fires, since large trucks can’t navigate the difficult terrain that firefighters encounter when they have to go into areas where fires are burning wooded areas or fields close to homes that engines and pumper trucks can’t reach.

It was part of the 2017 Comprehensive Improvement Plan, and got bids back from four companies. Commissioners approved bids of $152,686.