Rising gas prices squeeze rural fire departments’ budgets
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
Mark Cunningham slowly backs the truck into the garage. It's the third time in a four-hour span he's done it that day.
The Farmington fire chief has dealt with a few car accident assist calls in Fayetteville and a medical assist in the city's rural area. Each call took less than 30 minutes, and each one took a few more drops of what is now a precious commodity - gasoline.
With the average price of diesel fuel sitting at about $ 4 per gallon and unleaded fuel approaching the same, Cunningham said his department might be running on fumes soon. Farmington's plight is becoming a common theme countywide for emergency services, and most small town and rural fire chiefs don't see an end to the high costs in sight. The small town situation Cunningham said he budgeted gas at $ 4 per gallon this year, but halfway through the year it already looks like that's not going to be enough. In fact, this month his department is already over budget on fuel by $ 361. It doesn't help that the departments has already responded to 300 calls in the past four months, setting it on pace to exceed the call amount for last year, 750.
"We don't make any unnecessary trips to anywhere," he said. "That's about all we can do."
He said money collected from the rural fire association and federal grants have kept the department on pace, but he just expects the fuel money deficit to get larger. And his fire engines don't get very good mileage.
Additionally, even if a truck has enough fuel to get to a fire, it needs to use fuel to run water pumps and keep the hoses spraying.
"You run out of gas, you run out of water," Cunningham said.
J. C. Daubs, fire chief for Prairie Grove, said he padded his gas budget higher than $ 4 per gallon, but he believes that eventually his department will feel the fuel effects.
"You can only do so much," he said.
Cunningham and Daubs said the only thing they can do in the end is go back to the city councils they serve and ask for more cash. Daubs said he's also prepared to rearrange the department's priorities to accommodate a fuel need.
The Elkins fire chief, J. D. Demotte, said his department took a different route. It has a 325-gallon fuel tank at the station that stores diesel fuel Demotte buys wholesale. It takes about $ 780 to fill the tank up, but it lasts the department three to four months.
"It hasn't hurt us a lot because we budgeted for it," he said.
Rural chiefs worried Ken Messer, Nob Hill fire chief, said his department might have to cut into its reserves this year. "We're getting by," he said. "But it's going to start hurting real soon. "The department's 10 trucks carry, on average, a 50-gallon tank that costs about $ 225 to fill up. Gary Morgan's Wedington Fire Department is in the same boat, and he said it's going to take department cutbacks to balance the excess cost. Things like putting new gear purchasing on hold or even shutting off the station's lights when no one is there might save the department money. "We can't just park a truck," Morgan said. Shane Wood, the chief for the Round Mountain Fire Department, said the cost is hurting his department a little more than he expected. The department has already spent more than $ 900 on fuel this year compared to the mere $ 500 it had spent on fuel this time last year.
Most rural departments can count on county money and Act 833, a law set up in 1991 promising state money to purchase equipment and trucks, to set up their budget. Messer said he gets around $ 36, 000 a year from the county and an additional $ 10, 000 to $ 12, 000 from Act 833.
Wood said the higher costs may force the department to raise fire dues. He said last year the price went up from $ 40 a year to $ 60.
But Morgan, Messer and Wood can't predict how much gas either department will use because none of them know how many calls the trucks will be sent to this year.
County help John Luther, Washington County emergency management director, said moving emergency vehicles doesn't seem to be getting any cheaper. "Call volume is not down, and fuel costs are up," he said. Luther said last year the Washington County Quorum Court sent some more money to the rural fire departments to off-set the fuel costs and he expects the same to happen this year. He said the county generally looks favorably on rural departments asking for money to help with costs they can't control. "How in the world are you going to say no to that ? "Luther said. "It's a no-brainer. "He said that even though the past couple months have been rather wet, calls have been shifted from house and brush fires to floods and accidents.
"If the trucks are out, they're using fuel," he said.
In the long run, Luther said he expects the county and surrounding cities will have to cut money to nonessential services to keep its emergency services running. The price of fuel is literally driving the cost of everything up. Luther said departments are paying more for things like gear and medical supplies, and they need help.
In the end, Luther hopes that full gas tanks in emergency vehicles become one of the highest priorities on all levels of government.
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