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Show Many Things T Consider Q When Setting Up FN Depl rWS BvP.ABVB Binnr.FTT j.n . j .. tin. ... dollars and cents." IF CENTERVILLE does pull out, the plan is to begin operation with only one 1 ,200-gallons-per-minute pumper for structure struc-ture fires and one mini-pumper for grass and smaller fires. This is where I think Centerville residents resi-dents are getting "short changed." IT'S DIFFICULT to believe that Centerville Center-ville would give up the use of a fully-equipped fully-equipped and fully-staffed fire department for a building housing two trucks one large one and one small one. Centerville at least for. quite some time to come will have to train its own fire fighting personnel, use its police department depart-ment for dispatching, and rely on the county coun-ty for help. UNDER THE proposed fire district, there would be the same equipment, some direct-dispatch system, and trained personnel. per-sonnel. Also, there would be, as there is now, personnel on duty at the station from 8 a.m. until midnight daily. In the first place, Centerville could not adequately fight a structure fire, even a residence, with on!yone large pumper truck. What would happen if there were to be a fire in the condominium complex, the Pairish Lane Shopping Plaza or the industrial indust-rial park? There's no way Centerville could even begin to battle such a blaze with any efficiency. THEY WOULD have to call for help-to either the county or a neighboring city. And that's not fair to Centerville residents or other communities involved. Response time from businesses and homes would be no shorter than the response re-sponse time the county now offers. In fact, h would take longer because except for eight hours through the middle of the night the county has personnel at the station for immediate response. CENTERVILLE officials believe that a station within its city would reduce the fire rating. County Fire Chief Brent Argyle says this is not true, that it takes a lot more than having a truck sitting in a building to reduce rates. Mayor Allen says that the city would "struggle for a year or two, no question about that," but he feels that the city, if need be, can do the job with its own fire department. By GARY R. BLODGETT CENTERVILLE There's a lot to be considered when you start thinking seriously se-riously of having your own fire department. Centerville city officials are finding that out. "WE DON'T want to break away from the other communities in the inter-local fire district agreement, but we've got to think of the future as well as today's cost of operating oper-ating our own fire department," commented com-mented Mayor Golden Allen. Centerville wants to go on its own have its own fire department unless the proposed prop-osed Davis County fire department budget is slashed enough to make it economically feasible for Centerville to remain. AT LEAST that was the feeling of Mayor Allen when he told a recent meeting of mayors and county officials that unless the fire budget is held to below $70,000, Centerville Cen-terville is "going to pull out and go on their own." He emphasized that Centerville city officials offi-cials have nothing against the county fire department that has served the city for many years, only that it's a "matter of hard HE NOTED that last year's budget for fire protection was slightly over $45,000. This year, under the inter-local agreement, it would be nearly $80,000. "We can't afford that amount of money for fire protection, it's as simple as that," the mayor emphasized. HE SAID he believes that a city-owned department although there would be a lot of problems to work out could operate on a budget of less than $50,000 annually. North Salt Lake was the most recent city ,Atart,,tlown dePartment. That was in 1967 and they began with only one pumper truck. North Salt Lake now has seven pieces of fire-fighting equipment (of various va-rious sizes), a volunteer department of ' some 30 men, several EMTS (Emergency Trained Technicians) and a fully equipped rescue van in addition to a county-owned ambulance. FARMINGTON has a smaller department depart-ment and actually operates on a larger budget than does North Salt Lake. The "hour of decision" was set for 10 p.m. last night-too late for deadline, darn it. |