Between the purchase of a new truck and several grants submitted for a second truck and various other equipment, officials from fire departments around Lamar County are hopeful to soon have several new tools to combat fires around the county.
Members of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors recently voted to approve the purchase of a Ford F-350 long wheel base pickup truck for the Rock Hill Fire Protection District. The purchase price of the truck, which will serve as a rescue vehicle, is not to exceed $29,284.
Cash payments for the truck will be made from two funds from Rock Hill FPD, with $10,000 in Fiscal Year 2019 and $10,000 in Fiscal Year 2020 to be repaid to a district fund from a department allocation.
“It’ll have a small tank on it, and it’ll have all the rescue equipment on it,” Lamar County Administrator Jody Waits said.
Supervisors also approved the submittal of a grant to purchase a ladder truck for Southeast Lamar Volunteer Fire Department, which would be stationed in Purvis. The cost of the truck is estimated at $700,000, with a 5 percent match of $35,000 from the city.
Fifty percent of that match will be paid from Purvis Fund 123, with the remainder of the funds coming from state funding and the other five consolidated Southeast Lamar VFD departments.
“You usually associate ladder trucks with four-story buildings,” Lamar County Fire Coordinator George Stevens said. “But with buildings like the courthouse that are so tall, we don’t have a way to reach the top of that. Places like the downtown area, a lot of times you can lose your whole downtown area (in a fire) for the lack of a ladder.
“And they’re also useful on swift-water rescue – from time to time, you’ll see where somebody will wash off the road into an area that’s hard to get to. Ladders can actually go down, and a lot of times, you can rescue those people without putting anybody at risk. It’s a pumper just like we have now, except it’s got a ladder on it.”
Officials also will apply for a Regional Equipment Assistance to Firefighters Grant for eight chest compressors at an estimated cost of $168,399, with a match of $15,309 from the city. Possible participants in the grant include the City of Sumrall, Central Lamar Fire Protection District, Sumrall Fire Grading District, Hickory Grove Fire Department and Southeast Lamar VFD.
Each participant of the grant will pay its share of the match.
“They can put (the chest compressors) on, and they will automatically perform CPR on a person,” Waits said. “So if a human is doing it and gets tired, then this machine will do it.”
A third application will be placed for a Regional Personal Protective Equipment to Firefighters Grant for 44 Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus respirators at a cost of $5,135 each. The grant would cover 95 percent of the cost of the respirators, and each department will pay its share of the match from available funds.
Under terms of the grant, Beaver Lake Fire Department would receive four respirators, with two more going to Hickory Grove. Sixteen will be sent to Purvis, while 20 will go to Southeast Lamar VFD.
Waits said the new trucks and equipment will be a huge help to the fire departments.
“(This equipment) will be awesome,” he said. “Some of it helps protect the lives of the firefighters, and most of it protects the property and lives of the citizens.
“It’ll go a long way to help reduce their insurance rates and put out fires. And certainly the chest compressors could save their life.”
