June 18, 1998

Fire district hires 3 new employees

       Steps to provide better fire service in White River Township were taken Tuesday by the hiring of three additional employees.  The fire district board also decided that a third fire station needs to be built to offset the community’s intense growth. The board gave the fire department instructions to research the costs involved.  There is no timeline or firm decision on when a new station will be built.  But the board approved $185,000 in the budget to hire three new battalion chiefs. Fire Chief Mike Dutton said the chiefs will perform training, operational duties and support services for the department.  “This is the first step toward a career department,” Dutton said. The decisions come after Dutton outlined a 10-year plan for the department citing problems in run times and staffing. Dutton wants to see the department increase to a full-time force of 25 career firefighters because the fire department can’t keep up. Projections show that the township should have 56,000 people by 2015.  Currently, the station is providing service to 30,000 residents and 200 commercial buildings.  In 1992, the station had 721 runs.  Last year, there were 1,242 runs. The increase has meant firefighters aren’t reaching destination times quickly enough. Industry standards recommend that units arrive on the scene within four minutes.  It’s taking firefighters seven to 11 minutes to reach some homes. Building a new fire station, near Smith Valley Road and State Road 37, would help firefighters get to runs on that side of the township quickly, Dutton said.  A new station would also allow the addition of new equipment and staffing.  The department has only seven firefighters on duty, three fewer than recommended.  Board member Charles Shufflebarger said a new fire station is needed but the board has to be fiscally responsible.   “I think the department is going to grow,” Shufflebarger said. “It’s not our goal to limit it but to figure out a way to grow it.”   A new station and additional staff are very preliminary, said Butch Sutton, fire district board president.   While there was enough money in the budget to hire three new battalion chiefs, a new fire station means raising taxes.  Sutton said residents’ property taxes could increase by 10 to 12 cents. The fire department currently receives 28 cents on every $100 of assessed valuation in the township.  The department owns six acres of land near State Road 37 and Smith Valley Road. The fire department believes building the station there would reduce run times. It would also offset problems as State Road 37 begins to develop.  Sutton would like to see the station done by the end of 1999 but said more research needs to be done.  “We are going to have to do this by piecemeal,” Sutton said.  While Dutton would like to see the department become a full-time career effort, Sutton said the board has to tread carefully.  The fire district board’s taxing authority depends on taxing capital expenditures such as new buildings and equipment.  It does not have the authority to raise taxes to pay for additional personnel. But if a new fire station is built, the board could take out a loan or a debt to buy the building, which allows the board to raise taxes. That in turn would free up money for department operations.  But there’s no guarantee that will happen and that the taxes generated would be enough to sustain a full-time career department.  “It’s a very tricky area,” Sutton said. “Everybody interprets it differently. But the fire district structure is limited.”  But Chief Dutton said he is pleased that the district is trying to increase staffing and looking at the department’s 10-year plan.  “Right now it could be better,” Dutton said. “But it’s the best we can afford to do at this time.”  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

 

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