Status check: How our volunteer fire departments are faring

0

By SUZANNAH COUCH AND ABIGAIL YOUMANS

If a pandemic wasn’t happening, the six volunteer fire departments in Brown County would be hosting fundraisers to get them through the year — fish sandwich dinners, garage sales, pancake breakfasts, even a pirate festival.

Almost all of them receive taxpayer support though township trustees. Hamblen Township Volunteer Fire Department receives funding from the fire district there. The Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department receives tax money through the Nashville Town Council as well as Washington Township.

In addition, some departments charge for responding to fires, car crashes or medical runs, but if insurance decides not to pay, they do not collect.

RELATED STORY: Fundraiser celebrates First Responders Day

COVID-19 has prevented many fundraisers from happening. Some departments were able to still have them after making adjustments.

This is also happening in a time when departments are having to purchase more personal protective equipment and spend more time decontaminating their equipment after runs.

What is the future of volunteer firefighting in Brown County? Is more support needed? How much has the pandemic affected budgets? These are just a few of the questions the Brown County Democrat asked all six volunteer fire chiefs.

Each one answered a little bit differently.

Financials

Darth Vader gives a thumbs up while riding in front of the Jackson Fire Township Volunteer Fire Department fire engine during the 2017 Brown County Lions Club Spring Blossom Parade in downtown Nashville. File photo
Darth Vader gives a thumbs up while riding in front of the Jackson Fire Township Volunteer Fire Department fire engine during the 2017 Brown County Lions Club Spring Blossom Parade in downtown Nashville. File photo

Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department usually has three major fundraisers: the Cabin Fever yard sale; the BucCornEar Festival and a dinner for potential donors. Those raise around $12,000.

All three were cancelled due to COVID-19. The department did have its Friendly Forest Halloween event, but Chief Glenn Elmore said that’s not a large fundraiser and more of a fun event for the community.

The department also brings in donations from selling cookies and hot chocolate at the Santa Train, but the Indiana Rail Road Company cancelled the train this year.

Jackson Fire’s operating budget is $65,000. It receives $30,000 from the township trustee, leaving $35,000 to raise every year.

When firefighters send out their newsletter, they also receive donations. Elmore remembers one woman who came to the station after her home caught fire and asked them what it had cost them to fight it. It was about $25,000. She wrote a check for that and then some.

“Every once in a while you get somebody like that. But you can’t plan for that,” Elmore said.

Departments can charge for runs under state statute, but Jackson does not unless they are deemed illegal burns.

If a homeowner has insurance and loses their home to a fire or it is heavily damaged, Elmore will find out if they are going to file a claim, and if so, he will write them a bill.

If the insurance company doesn’t pay, he doesn’t collect from the homeowner. “They have lost everything. We’re not going to charge them, making a hardship,” he said.

“What we’re really trying to accomplish isn’t make money off of any of our runs. What we’re trying to accomplish is pay expenses.”

Those include the cost of fuel for a run, which is around $45 since trucks have to be left on.

Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department sells fish sandwiches on the courthouse lawn every October, raising around $10,000.

That fundraiser — their only one — did not happen due to COVID-19. There are talks about having a raffle, but that wouldn’t happen until next year, Chief Nick Kelp said.

“We’re OK (financially). We just don’t spend money. We’ve been in a not-spend-money mode for as long as I’ve been here, so, like 10 years. That way, when we actually have to spend money, like on repairs or tests done, we can afford it,” he said.

The department collects an additional $10,000 by charging for fires and car wreck runs. “We’re usually getting whatever insurance pays out, not from the actual person who lost their home or car. I would feel like a piece of trash if I billed someone after they lost all of their contents and home,” Kelp said.

Eric Foreman with Alexis Fire Equipment shows Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department Chief Nick Kelp, first lieutenant Shawn Fosnight and firefighter Meagan Fosnight the pumping system on the department's new rescue truck in this 2018 file photo
Eric Foreman with Alexis Fire Equipment shows Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department Chief Nick Kelp, first lieutenant Shawn Fosnight and firefighter Meagan Fosnight the pumping system on the department’s new rescue truck in this 2018 file photo

Nashville Fire contracts with a company to go after that insurance money, which takes 20 percent of what’s collected and gives the rest to the department.

The department also does driveway inspections, which can bring in around $1,000 a year.

It has contracts with Washington Township and the Nashville Town Council for fire protection for around $43,000 and $20,000 each.

Nashville Fire’s annual operating budget is around $70,000 if they don’t need to make major repairs.

About a third of Hamblen Township Volunteer Fire Department’s operating budget comes from fundraising. They, too, serve fish sandwich dinners, their biggest fundraiser. They’ve been able to do two this year when they usually host three, which meant a loss of about $2,500, Chief Arlan Pierce said.

Hamblen Fire contracts with the Hamblen Township Fire Protection District to provide fire protection in Hamblen Township except for the Cordry-Sweetwater lakes area, which is covered by the Cordry-Sweetwater Volunteer Fire Department.

The operating budget is around $62,000, and around $51,000 of it comes from the contract with the fire district. Any money left over after the mortgage and insurance are paid goes to utilities. Firefighters have to raise around $11,000 each year for utilities.

Hamblen also charges homeowners if they respond to a hazmat fire or illegal burn.

Pierce said he knows of some homes that do not have fire coverage in their homeowners insurance, which makes collecting that way a challenge.

“They give us $100 for a six- or eight-hour fire. That’s about what it comes out to, just enough to make you feel happy and get a couple cups of coffee. It doesn’t happen very often,” he said.

“If we do, you’ll see us jumping up and down. You’ll know we got paid.”

Cordry-Sweetwater Volunteer Fire Department hosts three pancake breakfasts and a garage sale each year. The breakfasts were converted to drive-thru barbecue dinners this year and the garage sale was cancelled. Another popular fundraiser is the haunted trail, which was able to still happen this year after some adaptions. The dinners sold out each time and the trail brought in about $8,000.

Cordry-Sweetwater Fire’s operating budget is around $60,000, with $22,000 coming from the contract with the Hamblen Township trustee. That covers insurance, Chief Mike Leavitt said. The department must raise $40,000 each year.

“We’re really kind of on track by the changes we made with our fundraising. That has really helped. It’s been much better than we thought we would do,” Leavitt said.

Cordry-Sweetwater Fire also contracts with the surrounding conservancy district to remove trees from roads and respond to similar calls in exchange for the district providing fuel.

A large chunk of the $40,000 the department is responsible for raising comes from a $75 membership fee that Cordry-Sweetwater Lakes residents pay annually. The membership means residents will not be charged for individual fire or medical runs. If a resident does not have that membership, they will be charged for a fire run per the state statute. But anyone will be charged if they have unattended and illegal burns.

Cordry-Sweetwater is the only department with a transport ambulance, so they can charge for medical runs that result in a patient going to a hospital. But the department will never charge residents for doing a lift assist, whether they pay the annual membership fee or not, Leavitt said.

“To me, that’s being a good community member. We don’t want someone to risk hurting themselves trying to move somebody they shouldn’t because they don’t want to incur a fee for that,” he said.

Cordry-Sweetwater firefighter Logan Miller helps Debbie Kelley and Kason Sandgren with a fire hose at the Touch-a-Truck fundraiser at the high school.
Cordry-Sweetwater firefighter Logan Miller helps Debbie Kelley and Kason Sandgren with a fire hose at the Touch-a-Truck fundraiser at the high school.

Cordry-Sweetwater Fire also has a cumulative fund managed by the township trustee. It’s used to buy new apparatus and other assets. The department is currently using that money to pay off an engine they bought in 2018 quicker. It cost $473,000.

With pandemic complications and closings, Fruitdale Fire saw their bingo nights shut down for a few months, Chief Kevin Sebastian said. Since reopening, those nights have been well attended, which Sebastian attributes to people wanting something to do after being isolated.

Fruitdale also does fish fries once a month between April and October. “Four of the seven fish fries were very good,” Sebastian said. “Others were just average.”

Factoring in expenses, Sebastian said they’ve raised close to $6,000, maybe more.

Fruitdale receives $25,000 annually from the Jackson Township trustee, most of which goes to pay for insurance.

“We have things we want to purchase, but they’re higher-priced things,” he said. “It’s difficult to do. We have to save.” They’re looking to replace extrication tools, which can cost $30,000.

Fruitdale does not charge for runs, but if there is a house fire, they can submit a bill to homeowner’s insurance for a $500 maximum payout.

Like Nashville Fire, Southern Brown Volunteer Fire Department has raised nothing this year since they canceled their spring fundraiser and are still deciding whether or not to do their fall fundraiser.

“We can buy one guy’s suit, maybe two,” Chief Evan Johnson said.

The money Southern Brown is expecting this year includes the $20,000 contract from the Van Buren Township trustee. The department also received a $5,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

“We’re not spending very much money right now, but we’re about to,” Johnson said, adding that he has six volunteers to outfit.

Maintenance and upkeep is low, even though Southern Brown’s vehicles are older, since they fix them themselves if something is wrong.

The only time they charge for a run is for a car accident, Johnson said.

Manpower

Volunteer fire departments are always in need of more help, but most say they are comfortable with their roster of people able to respond any time of day.

Nashville Fire has 11 volunteers, but all work during the day. Kelp would like more to cover that gap.

“Even losing one person is a dagger blow, honestly, at this point, because it makes it worse on everybody who is still there,” he said.

Hamblen Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Dave Frensemeier rides atop Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department's Ladder 1 with the Indiana Bicentennial Torch in this 2016 file photo.
Hamblen Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Dave Frensemeier rides atop Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department’s Ladder 1 with the Indiana Bicentennial Torch in this 2016 file photo.

Pierce said his department is probably better off than most. Hamblen’s active roster has 13 volunteers, not including associate members, and nine or 10 respond to most calls.

Leavitt said Cordry-Sweetwater Fire has added around five members in the last year and now has around 15 to respond.

Jackson Township Fire has been dispatched to far corners of the county lately. They have an active roster of daytime responders who are either retired, work second-shift jobs or are at home with their children.

“You find a volunteer that has a heart for the community, that’s what you look for. A lot of times in the past I’ve looked for their ability, not their availability, and so we started concentrating on people who had a heart for the community,” Elmore said.

“That has, for us, worked. I know it doesn’t work for everybody, but for us, it works.”

One thing that’s not lacking at Southern Brown Fire is manpower, Johnson said. With a 32-person roster, Johnson said they don’t have to worry about whether or not they’ll be able to cover runs.

Even with a large department, Johnson welcomes donations and new volunteers. Southern Brown also offers a free emergency medical class for anyone interested.

Paid staff?

Having paid firefighters at the Nashville station would mean a lot fewer sleepless nights for Kelp, since his department covers all of Nashville along with portions of Brown County State Park and Yellowwood State Forest.

He would support getting more money from taxpayers to have paid staff at his station. It would have to be more than two firefighters to have an adequate response, because a firefighter cannot enter a burning structure alone and one has to stay outside, Kelp said.

“It would guarantee a response. There are a lot of runs that we miss. All of my people work out of county for the most part, or they can’t leave their jobs to go do daytime, like Monday-through-Friday responses,” he said.

“We have to count on other departments. I know from working dispatch that I’m not the only department in that group (needing weekday help), because there’s been days where I’ve had to call three or four departments for a simple call.”

Along with ensuring responses, Kelp believes a paid staff would lower ISO ratings for home insurance, which could save homeowners money. Currently, the Nashville department has a six ISO rating with hopes of moving down to five after a recent audit. A rating of one is the best. Kelp estimated with paid staff, the rating could go down to four or lower.

A paid staff would also mean volunteers could have more time to do what they signed up for: Training and responding to emergencies instead of fundraising and maintaining equipment, Kelp said.

But some other chiefs said their departments are doing well enough that they do not need paid staff, or they do not support an increase in taxes to pay firefighters.

“This community cannot afford to pay any more taxes,” Elmore said.

“I go into people’s homes that they’re just barely hanging on. If they had to pay even another $50, they’re almost ruined.”

Elmore said he 100-percent supports firefighters being paid, but the county cannot afford to do so without raising taxes.

Instead of putting that responsibility on local government and taxpayers, Elmore said grants from the state or federal government to help cover utilities could be an incentive, along with providing tax credits to volunteer firefighters.

“That is something that would help get volunteers, but it would also make volunteers feel more valued,” he said of the tax credit.

Pierce agrees: The money is not there in the county’s budget for paid firefighters. Even federal grants could be a problem if they are spent and have to be repaid when a department did not have the money in the first place.

“I’ve been in it 39 years. I’ve seen things come and go, different possibilities, but it all comes back to the infrastructure just isn’t there for the money, to actually pay the people,” he said.

He said more taxes would be rebuffed by residents who believe they are “paying enough in taxes.”

“It’s supposed to be volunteer, and that’s what you joined as,” Pierce said.

He said he understands that Nashville Fire has more runs because they cover a heavily populated area, but if they cut medical runs, that may help their overall costs. Nashville Fire did end medical runs for about 14 months starting in 2016, but firefighters voted to bring them back the next year.

“We get a fairly good amount of money, more than most, not as much as others, but we still have to budget what we do and watch what we do. It took us 18 and a half years to go from the old firehouse in Gatesville to where we’re at now, but that’s 18 and a half years of struggle,” Pierce said.

“I imagine when I finally go they (Hamblen) will still be struggling like every other department.”

Leavitt said Cordry-Sweetwater is in good shape and they do not need paid staff at this moment. Several volunteers live or work in the area and can respond quickly. The police officers there often have been volunteer firefighters too, which helps with daytime response, he said.

“In general, we haven’t really reached that point where we need full-time positions,” Leavitt said.

Cordry-Sweewater’s ISO rating is a four.

Leavitt said paid staff would benefit the department if they decided to run a paramedic truck. Then, paramedics would have to be at the station on call. But there’s not a need for that right now since there are ambulances with paramedics that come from Nashville.

Sebastian said Fruitdale doesn’t need paid firefighters, but Nashville does. “They have more runs,” he said. “I see the need to have at least a partially paid department.”

Volunteer firefighters William Newman, left, and Tim True serve food at the Southern Brown Volunteer Fire Department cookout in this Oct. 14, 2017 file photo. File photo
Volunteer firefighters William Newman, left, and Tim True serve food at the Southern Brown Volunteer Fire Department cookout in this Oct. 14, 2017 file photo. File photo

Johnson said he also saw a benefit in having some paid staff based in Nashville.

The future

“The issue with just about every department is that we need younger people,” said Sebastian, Fruitdale’s chief.

Because of that, Kelp said volunteer firefighting is on life support. “It’s pretty much dying,” he said.

He believes that’s tied to a larger issue: A lack of affordable housing and high-paying jobs in Brown County.

“Nobody who’s young wants to live here because they can’t afford it, and there’s no jobs here,” Kelp said.

Pierce knows of two who now work as firefighters in Carmel making “big bucks and living the dream.” He also knows of a firefighter who doesn’t work in firefighting, but instead works the night shift at FedEx Express Freight because it pays more.

“That’s where the kids have to go to go for the money. A lot of us down here are the older people,” he said.

Johnson said joining a volunteer fire department is a way to have a direct impact on the safety of your neighborhood and township. “Where else can you have that impact? You see people on their worst days and if you can be there to help. … It feels good to help your neighbor,” he said.

Elmore is a strong believer in volunteers and thinks the country as a whole needs volunteer fire departments.

“I believe that if you become valuable to your community, your community is going to support you,” he said.

“You know I like getting those big checks from big donors, but that $5 check that comes in probably touches me more than the $2,000 check that comes in, because I know that $5 check, somebody has made a decision about not buying something.”

He believes part of the problem is a loss of compassion.

“I think we’re in trouble as a country if we don’t get back to, ‘I am a volunteer. I am going to do something without expecting something back,’” Elmore said.

“One day, I’ll be gone out of the fire service. I hope the volunteer spirit stays alive, because we need it. We just need it.”

No posts to display