DONIPHAN — Purman Volunteer Fire Chief Ryan Kovach and Assistant Fire Chief Jason Shepard say, like all other departments, theirs is badly in need of manpower, better equipment, and enough money to pay the bills.
They fear the only permanent solution for the hardships faced by volunteer fire departments would be for the county to form a fire district.
Kovach envisions “a county-run, county-funded fire district, which would merge all the rural stations into one big department like they have in Butler County.
“It would be nice if we had a tax-based department. We could all hire a couple of full-time firefighters,” he says.
But, any ballot appeal with the words, “tax” and “increase” together in the same sentence doesn’t have much of a chance, and the potential threat of a loss of property to fire doesn’t change that.
“When we tried getting a fire tax passed before, I figured out it would have raised my taxes only about $7,” says Shepard.
Having a fire district “would have lowered the cost of homeowner’s insurance enough that we could have afforded the tax,” he says.
Without the support of a tax, VFDs continue to struggle to acquire the means to keep older model trucks fueled up, insured and operating.
They must hope for grant money or turnout gear so that they can provide themselves with safe PPE, and they save what money they can from year to year, hoping they can someday afford to improve their communications systems.
“There is a lot of expense involved,” says Kovach. “We recently fought a brush fire in the Sand Pond area south of Naylor. “Our fuel cost was $236.”
Among other big-ticket items, the department badly needs to replace its 1980s model brush trucks.
“These are our most used vehicles. We get more calls for brush fires than anything else,” says Kovach.
Because of rising costs, the department has raised its dues to $45.
“We don’t have a set time of year to pay subscriptions. We accept them at any time and they are due again the following year, at that same time,” says Shepard.
He says it would help if the state would pass a bill that requires fire dues to be paid at the time real estate and personal property taxes are paid.
The department relies on subscription money to pay for insurance on the trucks and property.
At a cost of about $7,500 (currently) the money collected simply doesn’t stretch further than that.
“Probably only a fourth of the residents in our district pay their dues,” says Kovach.
Not having the coverage is a risk apparently the other 75 percent of homeowners are willing to take.
However, when a fire call comes from a nonsubscriber, volunteer fire departments are entitled by Missouri statutes to charge $100 for responding to the fire, $500 for each hour of firefighting and an amount equal to one year’s subscription or membership fees.
“We don’t charge that,” says Shepard. “We usually just charge expenses and bill it to the insurance. Companies will usually pay $500 without taking it out of the settlement,” he says.
For those who did not have insurance on their lost property, the department has the right to take the matter to court and garnish wages or put a lien on the property so that it can’t be sold until the debt is paid.
When subscriptions and donations aren’t enough and grant money isn’t available, VFDs must rely on fundraisers. More often than not, firefighters pay out-of-pocket: in effect, they donate not only their time but also their own money to compensate for those who don’t pay their dues.
“A lot of our equipment would be down right now, if we depended on our budget alone,” says Kovach.
Manpower is probably the second greatest need for Purman.
“We have 12 to 15 firefighters on our roster. We’ve picked up a few more people lately, but there is always a need for more help,” says Kovach.
That may sound like a full crew, but obviously, fires often occur at times when only a handful of firefighters can be available to respond.
Mutual aid agreements have made it possible for departments to continue to function as a team. Purman borders with Oxly, so they are often among the first to get to the scene.
“Doniphan helps us out a lot, too, especially with fires on U Highway, where we have to drive five miles to get to a truck, then five miles back to the fire,” says Kovach.
Currently, the departments are working together to advertise for help.
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer, paying dues or making a donation can contact Fire Chief Kovach at ryankovach08@gmail.com, call him at 573-576-2186, or stop by Current River Marine.