GNADENHUTTEN Promises made are becoming promises kept, thanks to the passage of the 4-mill, 5 year levy on last November’s ballot.
GNADENHUTTEN Promises made are becoming promises kept, thanks to the passage of the 4-mill, 5 year levy on last November’s ballot.
The levy, which is costing the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about 38 cents per day, will generate approximately $150,000 annually. This ensures that a new, on-duty staffing program will begin on Monday, July 2, with paid coverage during the day on week days.
"As the program evolves, we hope to expand hours and coverage days as needed and funding allows," explained Volunteer Fire Chief and Paramedic Steve Wright. "We felt confident with the history of our voter support and the feedback we were getting that the levy had a fair chance. However, it passed by a 76 percent margin, which was an astonishing and very humbling show of support. Our firefighters were very excited about what this meant for the future of the fire district operations."
Wright added that the fire district board set to work immediately in January with planning for the future of the district that the new levy revenue now offered them, beginning with implementing a staffing plan and working through the process for repealing the old levies.
"First, the new fire levy will help fund part-time Firefighter/EMTs, to be on duty at our station and to respond to emergencies when volunteers aren’t available," he explained. "The fire district board designed a selection process modeled after other paid departments in the area to recruit experienced Firefighter/EMTs to supplement our existing volunteer staff. When the process was complete, we had selected 12 highly trained new firefighters, many of which are professional firefighters at other full-time departments in the area. Seven of these new hires are paramedics."
These additions bring the staff up to 33 members.
"For our community this means a multitude of benefits," Wright explained. "Benefits include improved reliability for fire and ambulance coverage, reduced response times to emergency calls, and enhanced fire prevention programs. The potential long-term effects that may be realized by our community include reduced damages from fires and emergencies, immediate high-quality medical care that can save lives and reduced property insurance costs.
"Secondly, the fire district board increased the amount of money being set aside for our fire truck fund."
The cost of a new fire engine that would meet the needs of the department and would serve them for 25 years would cost more than $400,000. Grants are also being sought to put toward this expense. The department's two front line fire engines are nearly 30-years-old, according to Wright.
This new program also benefits outside communities.
"This will reduce our reliance on their fire departments and ambulance services for everyday emergencies," Wright noted. "This allows those agencies to remain in their home communities to respond and put us in a position to be able to give back to those communities for the assistance they have provided in the past."
Wright said although there are no fundraisers currently planned, the department does have a community CPR class in the works for this fall. The Arrowhead Joint Fire District covers an area of just over 24 square miles and a population of more than 2,500 people. This includes fire protection, prevention, rescue and Emergency Medical Transport services to residents of Gnadenhutten and surrounding Clay Township.