Clifford Fire Tooling for the future As in everyday life and the emergency services, a lot has changed over the past decade. The pace at which we live, working out of town, and typically households have both adults with careers. Today’s Emergency service requires hundreds of hours of training, fire station work details and many, many fundraising events. Throw in family time and house chores and you have the exact ingredient that is plaguing the American Volunteer Fire Service. In the 1980’s, the volunteer fire service was over 300,000 strong across the nation – today it is near 70,000. This continued decline is the result of changing American lifestyles. Obviously with the decline in volunteers, the fire service has been strongly encouraging “consolidation of resources”. Simply put, some fire companies operate with a tanker and a fire engine – these folks have consolidated into a “pumper/tanker”, others who operate with a ladder truck and fire engine are consolidating into a “quint” apparatus which is basically a fire engine with the ladder on top. In the late 1990’s, Clifford Township was blossoming with growth – and with it new hazards for the fire service. These hazards included sprawling commercial facilities, large multi-story homes, and most of all – the type of construction used today. Clifford Fire began to evaluate its need for a ladder truck. With the research completed, in July of 2002, Clifford Fire purchased a used ladder truck that was in very good condition along with being fiscally responsible to the department. With the investment to the community, it allowed us to confirm our research and use it as a foundation for future upgrades. After the ladder was placed into service, we continued to evaluate the current need and the benefits brought to Clifford Township with this project. Now, five years later, Clifford Fire is taking the next step to raise the level of protection to both the firefighters and community. In 2005 and 2006, Clifford Fire has applied for funding through the Firefighters Assistance Program to acquire funding to purchase a new quint apparatus. The cost of a new unit is approximately $620,000. Both years the funding has been turned down due to the large number of requests. Obviously a project of this monetary size is not possible with our limited budget. At a specially called membership meeting on April 11, 2007, a presentation was presented to the membership for their review. With years of research, fiscal responsibility and field operation objectives being the key, the membership unanimously voted to consolidate our current operations of a fire engine and ladder truck into one quint apparatus. The consolidation project places our existing engine and ladder up for sale. Once the fire engine is sold, a used – latest model used quint will be purchased that falls within the proposed budget. Consolidation is a monumental step forward for many reasons. The following are some key points: • Staffing one apparatus vs.
two
As the world we live in continues to change, so will the emergency services. Our forefathers had great leadership and vision to bring Clifford Township Fire and Ambulance to where it is today. We will continue to be as dynamic as our world, be progressive, and protect the communities we serve to the best of our ability. Thank you for your continued support. |
