Volunteer fire department in Cooper County holds open house to seek help from the community
COOPER COUNTY, MO (KMIZ)
The Cooper County Fire Protection District is asking the community for help to secure a general obligation bond that would make upgrades to better serve the community.
The bond is a "no tax increase" bond issue for a little over $1.9 million.
The Cooper County Fire Protection District explained the information to the public Saturday about their bond issue at a open house event.
The first district was created in 1978 and serves at least 250 square miles of the county using six fire stations. The $1.9 million will be distributed through out the district.
The district plans to use the money to buy multiple new fresh air-breathing packs, as well as, replacing a 31-year-old fire truck, a 37-year-old tanker that holds 1,200 gallons of water, two 37-year-old brush trucks, plus increase staff and training and purchase various other needed items.
The district says they've been using the equipment that is well over 30-years-old for sometime now and it makes going out to calls challenging.
“The truck behind me here, the ladder rack broke. The ladder rack came down so we could get our ladders off but then the hydraulics broke on it. Its so old, we’re having a hard time finding somebody thats willing to fix it,” said David Gehm, Fire Chief of Cooper County Fire Protection District.
The district chief says they have 25 part-time volunteer firefighters, and improving staff can help overall performance. The district had a 20 percent increase in the number of calls between 2019 and 2021 and responded to over 550 calls in 2021 alone.
"We're making a promise to them if they vote for this, we're making a promise, we're making a commitment to upgrade our equipment to be able to respond better and provide better treatment to them and we need their help doing that by a yes vote, " Gehm said.
Lieutenant Leah Lenz for the district says they currently have five volunteers at station five and the money can help staff the station during the day.
“Volunteers are hard to come by and they still have other jobs but we make up and try to cover what we can throughout the day, ” Lenz said.
The Missouri Municipal Election will be April 5 and the district says they need a majority vote from the community to get things going. The district is anticipating a 12% voter turn out.
If the bond passes, the district says the community can start to see new equipment within a year.
Cooper County citizen George Monk says he plans to vote yes. “Nobody really understands the importance of the fire district until it happens to them. We need to have our equipment in good shape so that if something takes place that, that they can come out and take care of it,” Monk said.
Individuals living in the district can vote on the bond at their local polling office.
