- According to the Havana Fire Department the ISO rating for the station is 10 while in Midway it's 6.
- Gretna, Havana and Midway fire departments working with Havana's fire station on emergency calls.
- Right now, Havana, Gretna and Midway are working to see what they can do in order to get more volunteers and find ways where they can also get certified.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Keeping the community safe and making improvements is Havana, Midway and Gretna fire departments top priority.
"Its not important until you need it and when you need it it’s very important" Ron Tiller said.
Tiller has lived in the town of Havana for over 30 years. He feels it’s hard for those to step up and volunteer but feels there needs to be solutions for the firefighters in the community.
"A lot of their time is required with their family, number one and number two just to have money to survive."
Right now, Havana Fire Department has 15 volunteer firemen with 5 of those men being certified.
Gretna Fire Chief Danny Hunter says Midway and Gretna’s Fire Departments work together with the Havana station when it comes to emergency calls.
"Each of the cities are starting to work closer together some of that is how we can share our certified firefighters, automatic mutual aid agreements between the cities for the firefighter level and the command staff level,” said Hunter.
Because of this, one of the biggest concerns of the community is the ISO ratings of many local fire departments in the county.
According to the Havana Fire Department the ISO rating for the station is a 10 while in midway it is a six.
ISO stands for Insurance Service Office.
“ISO provides a rating for fire departments, one is the best, 10 is the worst" said Hunter.
The factors that make up an iso rating is the fire department itself, water supply, emergency communication systems and community risk reduction, or how prepared a department is in the event of a fire.
Midway Fire Chief Nathan Yarusso says despite the poor rating, his goal and others is to continue to serve the community.
"it does not reflect that we do not have adequate personals to respond to emergencies. We're still making calls” Yarusso said.
One of the biggest issues the fire departments are facing is finding volunteers.
"With the rise in cost of everything today, it's harder and harder to find people that want to do this job for free and volunteer. People got to survive and pay their bills and unfortunately, volunteering doesn't pay the bills" Yarusso said.
Right now, Havana, Gretna and Midway are working to see what they can do in order to get more volunteers and find ways where they can also get certified.
"Getting creative and how we can start to pay people to be at the station. part time and full time. and paying stipend to those who truly just want to volunteer. We have to offset the costs the volunteering a doing in order to do this” said Hunter.
Getting more volunteers for people in the community to continue to feel safe.
Although the ISO ratings may be alarming, they will not change overnight. fire officials tell me that they are continuing to work together as a county to improve their scores while also giving adequate service to the community.
