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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on March 18, 2010 at 11:01pm

Doing minimal research on your problem with radio's revealed you situation pretty clearly... you are screwed. You are so far behind the curve at this point that it would be impossible for you to make any kind of changes. There are two key things involved here...

1. Power
2. Money

I'm not saying this is true of all cases, but running a bigger department with more stations makes fiscal sense for starters. What does not make sense was the attorney who penned the agreements, representing BOTH departments, conveniently put language in the contract that specified your department would only respond in "extraordinary situations" pretty much sealed your fate. Someone does not want you to be a part of the emergency response...

There's a missing piece of the puzzle here... It never makes sense to close down a fire station which includes getting rid of folks who have an intimate knowledge of the area and faster response times from local people who know and care about their neighbors. Again, I say follow the money...

AMERICUS — The Americus Mayor and City Council convened at 3 p.m. New Year’s Eve in a special called meeting. The Council met to consider a resolution authorizing the Mayor to sign a mutual aid agreement with the City of Leslie to provide fire suppression services.

The agreement was in response to a proposed agreement sent in early December to the City of Leslie by the Sumter County Fire Department to provide fire protection services. Americus City officials were then contacted by Leslie Mayor, George Bagley about receiving fire protection from Americus Fire and Emergency Services within the city limits of Leslie. Jimmy Skipper, who serves as attorney for both Americus and Leslie city governments, prepared the agreement.

The mutual aid agreement states that Americus Fire and Emergency Services will respond in the event of an “extraordinary emergency” to assist the Leslie volunteer Fire Department.

The agreement is similar to the existing agreement with Sumter County, which sets the reimbursement rates for fire protection at $30 per hour for chief officer, $25 per hour for captains, $20 per hour for engineers and $15 per hour for firefighters; $200 per hour for fire engines, $300 per hour for aerial, $50 per hour for command vehicle and $75 per hour for tankers.

The county-run fire department took over fire services in Sumter County at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1. As of now, Americus Fire and Emergency Services does not provide service for the municipalities of Plains or Andersonville as they have in the past. The mutual aid agreement with the city of Leslie was initiated as a result of their request for fire protection from Americus.

Final thought... take a look at response times, where units are responding from and the fact that inmates are being used to enter private homes. If the Sheriff supports the concept of having inmates provided intimate access for both fire and medical issues, I would say your next step would be the district attorneys office and the grand jury.

And just think, if they are inmates, who gets the money? Think about it... A young girl hides the fact that she is pregnant... do you really want an inmate with a questionable background going there? Good grief...

Go public, get the churches involved, civic groups and get support for the local firefighters. I can see the bumper stickers already, "Local Firefighters Yes! / Inmates No!"

Good luck brother,
CBz

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Permalink Reply by Keith Castleberry on March 19, 2010 at 7:30pm

Thanks for the reply . The inmats are not the big issue , the thing is the desota fire dep. is county owned and ran buy volunteer we were the first to git on bord with the new fire dep they so far have lied on all there promises of new turnout , better training , being paid witch ant no big thing , and a lot more the only thing we got is a new engine , but when they need something they come take from us leaving us to do without. They ben robing us sence they started . Now we cant go help Leslie witch is a mile from our station before we run all the fire calls together and it worked well . My fear is when thay man station 4 at the river desota will be a satlite station just for ISO ratings .

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