By Ron Clayton
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
Copyright 2007 Chattanooga Publishing Company
ATHENS, Tenn. — Members of a task force looking at ways to improve fire protection are talking about hiring new firefighters, boosting training, buying equipment and perhaps adding a fourth fire station in a few years.
The city’s fire protection rating deteriorated last year, and the task force is looking at ways to regain the Class 3 ranking from the Insurance Services Organization.
The task force will make recommendations to the City Council, which will decide what to implement and how to pay for them.
At a task force meeting last week, a new fire station was estimated to cost more than $1 million.
“Are taxpayers willing to pay the extra amount for another station and have one a half mile away from their house instead of four miles from their house?” task force member Jill Davis asked.
Fire Chief Bob Miller said the city is seeking to buy a Quint, a multipurpose fire engine with an aerial ladder. That truck would respond to calls with four firefighters from the main station, and a secondary engine with two firefighters would continue to respond from the station on Congress Parkway.
Even with the new truck, he said, minimum ISO requirements call for two engines in addition to the ladder truck, with four firefighters per vehicle. The city presently staffs six firefighters per shift.
“The long-term solution is 18 new hires,” said Chairman Dick Pelley, who also is an Athens City Council member. He said that would improve safety for firefighters and the public.
The group discussed the possibility of hiring three new firefighters a year for three years. As the new hires came on, a ladder company could be formed on each shift and stationed at the main firehouse, Mr. Pelley said.
Three new firefighters would cost the city about $100,000 a year, City Manager Mitchell Moore said.
Mr. Pelley also suggested recruiting more volunteers. He said the city has 10 volunteer firefighters. But Chief Miller said recruiting is difficult because the volunteers earn only minimum wage when they help fight a fire.
The city’s fire rating is based on three factors. The ISO ratings for communication and water supply were excellent, but the fire department score brought the total down.
The task force agreed last week to take two immediate steps, buying new recordkeeping software and signing an agreement to use the city of Cleveland’s training tower.
Mr. Pelley said he doesn’t think the improvements will force a tax increase if the city can find budget cuts elsewhere.
He also said that if the task force had been formed a year ago, when ISO first notified city officials that its rating was in danger, the problem might have been averted.
City Council members have said that Mayor John Proffitt and Mr. Moore withheld that information from them. They also have said that Mr. Moore, without consulting the council, notified ISO that the city did not intend to take any steps to keep its Class 3 fire rating.