Pontotoc County Fire Fighters

If you are interested in becoming a Pontotoc County Fire Fighter post a message to us.

The general purpose of this page is to positively promote and inform about the proposed Pontotoc County Fire dept Sales tax. We want the facts made available to the public. Don't believe the speculation, until you know the facts!
Please read the info section, and click see more to see the full description

THE PROPOSED SALES TAX:

Amount- $0.00.1875 three sixtenths Cent

Will be voted upon Novemer 6th

The Pontotoc County Firefighters are in great need of this increase budget. The Fire departments that would be receiving monies if passed include;

Oil Center, Vanoss, Roff, Pickett, Byng, Fittstown, Fitzhugh, Allen, Stonewall, Happyland, Francis, Homer, Union Valley and Lula.

(All Fire Depts are in good standing and certified with the state and the PCFA)

The proposed Tax monies would be split into 14 equal shares among the Fire Departments. The Money would be used for including but not limited to, Safer Vehicles, NFPA approved Equipment, Safety Gear, Personal Protective Equipment, Fuel for trucks, Maintenance, Fire station repair, New stations, communication equipment, help matching grants, etc

An estimation of the division is roughly $4,262, per department, Per month. Allowing all departments to purchase safer, newer equipment.

Volunteer Fire Depts are given roughly $4400 a year for operations by the state, that's all. The rural Depts rely on fundraisers just to scrape by and are barely able to get the bills paid. Some depts do better than others, but even with that, they are only able to maintain equipment, not allowing them to move forward in an ever growing organization. Standards are ever increasing and making requirements near impossible to reach with today's budgets. Government standards have to be met, and with our current budget, we cannot meet that.
Most depts have old military vehicles, that are unreliable, and very unsafe. With this sales tax we can help make each firefighter doing his/her job, safer.

Most departments have old and out dated structural fire fighting equipment. SCBA's(Self Contained Breathing Apparatus)(air packs) that are far past their hydro-stat dated testing, unsafe to fill, and does not meet government standards. Fire Engines that can take 20 min to warm up. Most were put into service 30 years ago, with bad motors, poor pump pressure, high mileage, no room for equipment, and defiantly not safe driving down the road. This equipment is used to enter structures that reach 500 degrees and higher. Safety is key. If our gear has a hole, it can seriously injure personnel.

Keep in mind, The sole function of the fire depts is to Save lives, Incident Control, and to Save Property. The purpose is to save you when you need us the most. It makes our job harder, and more dangerous with old equipment, that may take 3x as long to get to the scene to help you when you need our help.

The main purpose of the sales tax, is to keep our guys/gals SAFE when you call, so we can give our full attention to your needs. If we are having to mess with our trucks on scene, we cannot give you the best care. On the other hand, with this sales tax, we can change our ISO ratings, and lower your Insurance rates, which will pay off in the long run.


Lets talk money:

A 3/16 cent sales tax will give each department an estimated $4262.00 per month. That's roughly $51,144 a year. Seems like a lot, but when you think about how much safety equipment cost, it all makes sense. Not only that, you cannot put a price on a life. Here is a rough breakdown of equipment costs-

Fire Engine- $250,000

Brush truck- $75,000

Rescue truck- $100,000

Tanker- $250,000

1 SCBA- $6,000

Full Bunker Gear- $2,500

Jaws-of-Life- $20,000

1 Radio(communication)- $350

1 Pager $400

1 Fire nozzle- $350

Communications Programming- $25 per radio/equipment.

That does not include maintenance, utilities, tools, foam, rescue equipment, insurance, fuel, tires, truck and pump oil, etc.

During a good fire season, fuel bills can be up into the $3,000 range for one month. This year hit all Fire Depts hard. If we cant get this tax, some Depts could be forced to shutdown.


Communications?

Communication is key, without this tool(like all other tools we use) we cannot complete our job. All radios have to be narrow band by Jan 1, 2013. We have no choice but to switch over from our current wide band that we use. The FCC will fine anyone who uses wide band after 1-1-2013, this costs a lot of money to switch over.


Average runs(estimated) in a single rural dept.

130 runs a year-

30% Grass fires
40% Medical runs
10% Motor Vehicle Accident
10% Structure Fire
10% misc- Vehicle fires, False calls, Service calls, Hazardous, other


Lets do some figures:

There are 8,760 hours in a year. In the 14 rural depts, we have rough estimation of 140 Volunteers in Pontotoc. We work and are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Volunteers do not get paid, but this an example of how little this costs. What is worse that working for free? Working for free in a very unsafe condition. We can make our men and woman safe, for a minimal cost, but we need you!


Are we the first to try this?

Absolutely not. In 2009, There where 33 county's in Oklahoma(out of 77) that have accomplished this task. As a Pontotoc resident, we are behind in the rest of the state. Rural Fire depts, especially, are in much need of better funding. You can talk to people all of the U.S. and they will say, "You mean this hasn't been done yet?, That's unheard of from where I'm from." Most states have done this many years back. An overwhelming majority of fire depts in the U.S. are Volunteer depts.


How it affects you and how much it is going to cost:

The cost to you is minimum. Example, say you drive to Wal-Mart, and purchase a $500 TV, the cost to you will only be $0.94 to the departments fund. A majority of customers come out of county, bringing a lot of revenue. That is a small price to pay, for the FREE service you get from the Rural Fire Depts.


So why?

This allows us to not only lease purchase the trucks we need, but allows us to purchase other safety equipment at the same time. It will have a fast turn around on the equipment we need, when we need it.


Who has access of the money?

The money will be in one or 14 individual accounts. Any money drawn from the accounts will have to go through the Purchase Order system through the county. the money is safe. The Purchasing Order also keeps the money safe from mistakes made by any single dept.


Summary:

All Volunteer Depts are in dire need of this tax. Our main goal is safety, for us and others. Basically we cannot accomplished this without you. We are unable to succeed and move forward in our depts. We can barely maintain it in this economy as it is. This is the best investment you can make. Don't want another tax? There is no doubt there will be another tax, soon. Both the county and city both already have something in mind. This could be our only chance.

-- DO NOT THINK OF THIS AS JUST ANOTHER TAX, THINK OF IT AS AN INVESTMENT IN US, TO PROTECT NOT ONLY YOU, BUT YOUR HOME, YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY, AND YOUR CHILDREN. WE ARE THE FIRST UNITS ON SCENE, HELP US GET THERE MORE EFFICIENT AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, SAFELY.--

Times are tough, and we need the people of Pontotoc county to support us more than ever. This is a necessity, not a want, but a need. Volunteers spend countless ours working on outdated trucks and gear, we spend our own time, away from our family's, making sure our equipment works the next time we take it out, ALL FOR YOU. Firefighters even spend their own money out of pocket to be able to get the equipment working. This is a common problem in Pontotoc Co. Fire departments have changed rapidly in the past 10 years. We no longer handle just fires, but medical calls, Vehicle accidents, Trauma, power lines down, natural disasters, etc. Not only do we do an extreme amount of work in Pontotoc, we have a very efficient Task Force, that deploys all over the state. We are very fortunate to have such good personnel and training. We are the first line of defense. We have the need to change, in an ever changing world.

If you want to support us, the best thing you can do is pass this on, help us get a positive response, and get this tax passed! Tell your friends and family's. This is the best thing you or any individual can do for us.


If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to Comment and express yourself, we have nothing to hide, we want you to know the facts. We want you to understand the needs we have.
Help us help you.

Either contact us via Facebook, or talk to you local Fire Dept to find out more!

Stay Safe
~It's not what we do, Its who we are!~

Pontotoc County Fire Association
PCFA

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