Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District is asking voters to approve a $1.8 million equipment bond on Nov. 7.
The district plans to purchase four pieces of apparatus with the money. The levy also will help purchase additional equipment.
The bond will cost taxpayers 35 cents per $1,000 of property valuation per year over 10 years.
The district plans to purchase two new fire engines, Fire Chief Mike Beaver said. The fire department last purchased an engine in 1996 on a five-year lease agreement.
The district also needs a new pumper-tender, Beaver said. The vehicle will have a pump like a fire engine and is versatile so that it can be used to fight structure fires and grass fires as well as hauling water to rural areas.
The pumper-tender will be located at the Crawfordsville Substation, Beaver said. “Rural water supply is one area we’re lacking in because we don’t have a water tender at our substations.”
The district received negative marks on its most recent Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating for not having a rural water tender, he said.
The fourth piece of apparatus will be some type of aerial apparatus, such as a platform or ladder truck.
The aerial apparatus is “something to get us above the roofs,” Beaver said. It is useful with structures such as Wiley Creek Community, mills and some of the larger, newer homes.
For one Strawberry Heights fire in recent years, Sweet Home had to call in Lebanon’s aerial truck to hit the fire from above, Beaver said. More commonly, Sweet Home has needed Lebanon’s vehicle for mill buildings. All of the fires in the last few years have been extinguished once the aerial apparatus arrived from Lebanon.
When some apartments in Foster were burning a couple of years ago, half of them were saved because of Lebanon’s truck, Beaver said.
Beaver said the equipment needs are an ISO issue. Without aerial apparatus, the Sweet Home area’s ISO rating will drop from four in the city and 8B in the rural areas. Fire insurance rates are usually calculated based on this rating.
The equipment has a life expectancy of 20 to 30 years, Beaver said. He doesn’t expect the district to need another bond after this one is paid, but the district’s newest existing engine will be 20 years old at that point.
Growing demand for medical services has drained the fire district’s budget, Beaver said.
“From the beginning, we had some goals: That we needed to add personnel up to where we had three paramedics per shift, build a substation in Cascadia and try to have funding available to replace some of our aging fire apparatus.”
The past six years, the department’s call volumes have increased some 60 percent, rising from about 1,400 calls annually to up to 2,400 this year, Beaver said. The department can project 2,400 calls this year based on current statistics for the year. About 250 of those are fire calls, a number that has remained relatively static for years.
The department is averaging 6.5 calls per 24-hour shift, and about two weeks ago, medics responded to 18 calls during one shift.
Calls can take a couple of hours each when paramedics have to transport patients to the hospital, Beaver said, and the district is transporting more patients to the cardiac center in Corvallis.
Due to the increased demand for paramedics, the district has been forced to purchase a new ambulance every two years instead of every third year, Beaver said. The district went to a two-year cycle about four years ago. Right now, SHFAD is capable of putting away enough money over a two-year period to pay for the ambulances.
The district last purchased an ambulance in 2003, Beaver said, and that vehicle probably has about 50,000 miles on it. The oldest is well above 100,000 miles. Above 100,000 miles, “things just plain break down.”
SHFAD’s most recent ambulance cost $113,000 in 2003, Beaver said. The district is estimating a new one will cost $125,000 this year.
Beyond that, operating costs have taken their toll, Beaver said, especially fuel costs. With more calls and higher pump prices, fuel costs are up from between $900 and $1,000 per month to more than $2,000 per month.
“I’m very comfortable saying it’s costing us an additional $12,000 per year just in fuel,” Beaver said.
The district is planning public meetings to explain the bond request. On Oct. 12, the SHFAD will host meetings at Crawfordsville School, East Linn Christian Academy Liberty Campus and Cascadia Substation. On Oct. 19, meetings will be held at the Fire Hall and Foster School. Meeting times are 7 p.m.
For further information, call 367-5882.