With the nine months it took to get to this point, the Cortez Fire Protection District asks its community for support by voting yes on Ballot Measure 6A.
This will allow a significant upgrade to the department since it’s still using a levy from 10 years ago, bringing essential funds so they can continue serving the community at full potential.
The fire department got to the point because of the economy, that they need community assistance to bring in proper training, keep personnel, show support to the community and be up-to-date on fire equipment. Even though they work on a large budget already, it takes a lot of money to put firetrucks into the community.
Along with fighting fires, the CFPD responds as first responders to emergencies, hazmat incidents, puts on CPR classes, sells reflective numbers for addresses, visits schools and community events and puts on the Fourth of July fireworks, which they get donations for.
Fire Chief Roy Wilkinson said that it begins with the pay amount. CFPD does not compete with other career fire departments in the area, so they had challenges hiring personnel due to the low wages they offered. In response, they did increase the pay so they could compete with the other departments.
“There’s a fine line between having enough to pay our firefighters and to get quality firefighters who are willing to work, willing to train and be part of our community,” Wilkinson said. “All of our firefighters want to be here, they love living here and they want to stay here.”
The other issue is their equipment. According to the National Fire Protection Association, fire equipment has a life span and there’s a number of pieces at CFPD with equipment that is beginning to bump against the life span. They have equipment that’s older and newer and they want to make sure all of it is at 100%.
Wilkinson said that the amount in the ballot measure seems like a lot (one million dollars), but when calculating it, it comes to about $9 a month or close to $100 a year per citizen.
“If you think about it, that’s one fast food meal or one real nice cup of coffee that you could buy on Main Street,” Wilkerson said. “We’re coming to somebody’s aid on possibly the worst day of someone’s life. We want to make sure the person who comes to assist you is the best equipped, the best trained and the best motivated and for $9 a month that’s a pretty good deal.”
He said that the department will have to start cutting corners if the measure doesn’t pass. They’ll keep the personnel but they most likely would cut CPR classes and visits to events and schools for community service.
Currently they assist schools with fire drills and they’re big into the community, but it costs a lot of money for the “big red truck” to exit the firehouse.
The expenses go into tires, engines, oil, firefighter gear from head to toe and hoses (each time it is dragged across the concrete it creates wear and tear).
“If you have a house fire and you’re trapped in the house, I don’t know if there’s anybody alive that’s not going to pay nine bucks for us to come in and help you or your family,” he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated how much money it costs the Cortez Fire Protection District to operate its firetrucks.
