The Fort Gay Volunteer Fire Department is asking for the community’s help. We ask that everyone go out and vote YES in support of the Emergency Services Levy. This levy is very crucial for all the county fire departments to maintain operations. Not only does this levy support the county fire departments but it will include Emergency Medical Services, the Wayne County Public Libraries, and the Wayne County Health Department. All the organizations included within this levy is beneficial to Wayne County.
The Fort Gay Volunteer Fire Department has worked hard in order to lower the ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating for our protection area. The ISO rating is a fire score that determines how well the fire department can protect your community and home. Insurance companies use this score to help set home insurance rates. The Fort Gay Volunteer Fire Department was recently evaluated by the ISO. The score achieved was a class 4. The previous score was a class 7. This is great for our fire protection area with money saved with lower insurance rates. We are proud to be tied with some of the other county departments for the best ISO rating in the county among volunteer fire departments.
The Fort Gay Volunteer Fire Department has recently been re-certified by the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office. All fire departments state wide go through this process every five years.
The Fort Gay Volunteer Fire Department has 17 certified Firefighters. Our Fleet includes two 1,000 gallon pumpers, one 2,000 gallon tanker, and one 300 gallon rescue mini-pumper. We have come a long way from only having one pumper to protect our service area. The cost of outfitting a firefighter to perform their many tasks is very costly. It costs between $10,000 to $15,000 to outfit just one firefighter.
The cost for maintenance on the vehicles are also very costly. The fire departments are required to have each vehicle go through preventative maintenance yearly. Each pumping apparatus is required to have and pass a yearly pump test. All breathing (SCBA) apparatus are required to have a flow test done yearly. All hoses are required to be tested yearly. When you account for maintenance on other pieces of equipment, cost of training, cost of fuel, and the utilities at the station, it becomes costly to operate, especially with the rising cost of everything.
The Fort Gay Volunteer Fire Department also utilizes the Fort Gay Public Library for training purposes. The Fort Gay Public Library offers computers with internet services along with WiFi for other devices not only for us to use during training sessions but also for the public to use. The Fort Gay Public Library also is the only place locally to have a public fax machine and copying machine. We have held several training sessions at the Fort Gay Public Library in the past and thank them for their continued support of the fire service. This is a great resource for us and our county.
The men and women that serve in the volunteer fire service are just ordinary people like anyone else and do not expect anything in return. We all have families, jobs, and other things we like to do in our free time. But, one of the most important things that we do is we volunteer our time and risk our lives to help those in need. It may mean we leave or miss a family dinner on a holiday or get out of bed after working a double shift at work or going to work tired because we were helping someone in need. So, we are asking you to help us by voting YES for the Emergency Services Levy. Help us to ensure we can help you if you become in need. The volunteer firefighter is one of the greatest resource that Wayne County has. Thank you.
