Incentives sought for volunteer firefighters

The Volunteer Fire Department was among items discussed at the last regular session for 2019 by the Hickman City Commission on Dec. 23, with four items were discussed.

Hickman Volunteer Fire Chief John Amberg addressed the Commission with concerns from the fire department, with Amberg having reported previously about training issues the department is experiencing.

“The State trainer lives in Mayfield. He has doubled, if not tripled, some of the classes with us. Charley Lott, State Coordinator, came down and taught a class himself just so he could get our hours in,” Amberg said.

There were 18 volunteers on the fire department roll, with two taken off after moving out of the district. Matt Quimby is leaving for the military, and Ryan Amberg has moved to Crutchfield, Amberg said.

The Department has to be 50% certified, and by taking Quimby and Ryan Amberg off the roll, of the 16 on roll, eight of them are certified.

“I have eight that the State will probably be taking off, because they have not and do not have their hours to be certified fire fighters. With that being said, a 13 person fire department is mandatory. If you do not have 13, you do not have a fire department,” Amberg said.

There are three people who have zero hours, of the mandatory 20 hours; another has negative 16 hours, and two have negative 17 hours. One of the officers does not have the required training.

The Fire Department is voluntary and the firefighters can’t be forced to show up, Amberg reported.

“Five people on the Hickman list, are actually on Cayce’s list. They are getting training from both places, and this is the only reason we came up with these five. There are three totally dedicated to Hickman,” Amberg said.

City Manager David Gallagher asked, “Do you have any incentive for training now?”

Amberg replied, “This past month, we had four different training sessions and we gave $10 for each night of the training session, with three to four hours per night.”

If Hickman does not have a Fire Department that is 50% certified, the State will not send $11,000 of State Aid, used for gear and equipment, Amberg said.

Amberg recommended adding Cullin Wiley to the Fire Department list.

“He has shown an interest to join,” he stated.

Carlton suggested developing recruitment ideas and advertising to join the department, perhaps with incentive pay.

Commissioners also approved the second reading of Ordinance 19-98, SRO Budget Adoption; Line of Credit in the Sewer Department was renewed; and Municipal Order 19-12 Amendment to Municipal Order 16-2 on damaged transponders.