Board of Commissioners gets fire services update

Robert Griffin

AMERICUS — The Sumter County Board of Commissioners received an update on the status of the Sumter County Fire Department from Skip Starling at its work session Tuesday morning at the Sumter County Courthouse.

Board Chairman Brent Williams commented on the status of the fire department, commenting on walking by the department’s headquarters on Rucker Street. Williams said, “There was a tremendous amount of activity going on. There were fire trucks, hoses and Jaws of life™ truck, that parking lot was full. There are things that we have that I didn’t know we have. It’s pretty impressive.”

The start-up of a new County-run fire department has brought many concerns and questions before the Board. One of the public’s main concerns is the providing of emergency services in the county, specifically in dealing with traffic accidents and the Jaws of Life™.

Harold “Skip” Starling appeared before the Board to give an update on the status of the department and how training the new employees was going. “The fire department came online yesterday as far as the training is concerned,” said Starling. “This week the firefighters will be doing GEMA training all week and at the end they will be certified in rescue, hazmat and extraction.” Starling also reported that out of the 12 full-time firefighters that the Sumter County Fire Department currently employs, four are certified EMTs, and only four do not have first responder status. “We have a very wide array of medical specialists that are on board with this department,” said Starling.

Starling also informed the Board that all of the firefighters were going through the training again in order to be recertified, and that all of the inmate firefighters were being certified as well. Right now, Starling reported that the Department will be fully operational by Dec. 1.

In a separate item on the agenda, the Board unanimously approved a resolution to enter into a Master Equipment Lease Purchase Agreement with Wachovia Bank, through the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia for the purpose of acquiring fire service equipment in an amount not to exceed $1.9 million estimated as $1,137,000 for new fire trucks for a lease term of seven years at a rate of 4.5 percent plus $765,000 for vehicles and equipment leased for five years at a rate of 3.84 percent.

Among other items discussed by the Board of Commissioners:

• The Board heard a request from David McElmore to display nine documents at the new Sumter County Courthouse, including the Ten Commandments, Magna Carta and Lady Liberty.

• The Board heard from Gerald Mixon of the River Valley RDC on the approval of changes to the service delivery strategy for fire protection services in the county, as well as authorizing revision Sumter County service delivery strategy fire protection in the 27th voting district.

The next meeting of the Sumter County Board of Commissioners is at 1 p.m. Thursday in the commissioners board room at the Sumter County Courthouse, for its agenda setting.

Text Only