Fire Chief Reports Increased ‘Calls’ For 2009
by Jeff Wright
Speaking at the Hermann Area Rural Fire Associations annual meeting on Tuesday, Fire Chief Dave Schulte said his department responded to 137 incident calls from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 of 2009, up from 119 calls in 2008. The 2007 figure was 139.
“We’re back up where we were,” Schulte said. The majority of incidents were in the county or rural areas. Of the eighty fires in 2009, 100 were “rural” and 37 in the city. Schulte reported nine “rescues” in the city and 56 in the county. There were 12 “alarm soundings” for 2009, a figure Schulte said had “greatly increased” since 2008.
He told the Association members that the city’s fire department had applied for and received a conservation grant of $3,000, which is to go toward new fire department projects, such as making emergency radios low-band compatible by 2013. The fire chief said the city’s purchase of a 1988 Pierce truck from the High Ridge Fire Department was “a good addition to the fleet. Old stuff to them is like new stuff to us,” he said. The truck has been in service about four months.
Evelyn Vogel, secretary-treasurer for the Hermann Area Rural Fire Association, Inc., presented a $10,000 check or donation to Schulte. He said the money is earmarked for a new pumper truck.
“We’re near the half-way point,” Schulte said about the approximately $125,000 that’s been raised so far toward purchase of the $250,000 truck. “Hopefully, next year when we have this meeting, we’ll have a brand new truck to look at.” Schulte said the city might order the vehicle sometime in 2010, “or next year, for sure.” He said proceeds from a special breakfast, and a wildlife banquet, both scheduled for the spring, would go toward the pumper truck.
As part of its new business, the Association voted in Georgia Brueggenjohann as its new vice president. She replaces Steve Naumann.