ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

A solution to fire protection for Kismet and rural Seward County may soon be found.

The Seward County Commission met with Kismet residents last Friday to discuss finding a fix for getting faster response to fires in and around that community.

The work session came after Kismet community members came to a commission meeting in April wanting to know why there was a slow response to a fire that occurred there earlier that month.

One of the suggestions brought to the commission is forming a second rural fire district with volunteers making up a large part. At Friday’s work session, former Emergency Management Director Greg Standard said the idea of a new fire district had been brought forth during a meeting of Kismet residents, and at that point, it had already gained popularity.

“The new fire district would make use of all resources available – other county agencies, farmers with disks and water, surrounding fire departments and all state resources,” Standard said. “Along with communication and tactics, the new fire district would allow for faster response outside the Liberal area and help preserve the ISO rating of Kismet. In short, we intend to build a professional department in a rapid time frame.”

Standard said while everyone appreciates county firefighters at the Liberal station, effective and maximum use of resources is needed on every fire.

Kismet resident Bob McVey said the county’s Rural Fire District initially started with farmers.

“They went and got a deuce and a half and fixed it up as a fire truck,” McVey said. “We had three fire trucks, a deuce and a half, and that’s the way we fought it. It didn’t matter if it was Plains, Liberal, anywhere. They fought the fires, and that’s the most important thing. Who does it doesn’t matter. What matters is we have fire protection.”

Another idea presented at the work session was to get a list of people to send alerts to in the event of a fire. Administrator April Warden said 911 Communications Director Valerie Timmer has started such a list.

Warden said she and Interim Fire Chief Brady Steckel had discussed the issue of providing radios to volunteer firefighters.

“When people would show up to command center, we could issue radios to people,” Warden said. “At one of the recent fires, Brady passed out radios to some of the mutual aid to other counties. They couldn’t communicate with our radios, so we had some radios on hand.”

Steckel said a text message alert system is also in the works.

“They have to do a Spillman update that hasn’t been updated in a couple years,” Steckel said. “My understanding is they can make a circle and automatically alert everyone who’s on the list, and they can alert everyone who’s not on the list. If your phone’s in that circle, they can force your phone to go off and alert you. We have a communications board meeting next week, and I think Valerie was going to update us on that.”

Steckel said he is unsure if the fire department has enough radios to pass out.

“We have some to pass out to people who show up,” he said. “There are federal channels set aside that aren’t in the state template. We use a couple of them already. That is something we can utilize. Last week, we went to Road and Bridge and had a training there.”

Like many on hand last week, Steckel said communication is going to be huge to finding a solution, and radios would help out. A recent firefighter training was done with the county’s Road and Bridge department, and he said attention now needs to turn to farmers to allow everyone to understand the command structure and information to relay back from what residents are seeing, including dangers.

“Our number one priority’s always life safety,” Steckel said. “If you know someone’s there, that’s our number one priority, and we call all be on the same page and get it knocked out.”

Steckel said a new emergency manager should be in place soon, and that department has more radios available for use.

“Some of that radio issue might get worked out in the coming months,” he said. “There might be more resources where can start passing them out.”

Kismet resident Susan Lewis said Friday’s discussion should not have had to take place in the first place.

“I think it’s a crying shame we don’t have somebody in this new fire station,” Lewis said.

Lewis said taxpayers have paid for the Kismet station, and she believes someone needs to be put in place in the facility.

“You’ve got the money to put someone over here,” she said. “I want someone over here. I want someone qualified.”

While she does not know the logistics or how it would be paid for, Lewis said she does know the county has the money to put someone in the Kismet station.

“I know you’re having budget problems, but I want someone here, and I want someone here 8 to 5,” she said. “On a Red Flag day, we can have someone here 24/7.”

Lewis said Kismet has the human resources available to make putting someone in the station possible.

“These guys are willing to work, and if you guys are, let’s get some volunteer fire department people like  we used to have,” she said. “It’s in the budget, and I want it back.”

Commission Chair Steve Helm said there are volunteers who live in Kismet who can drive a truck, adding the job is not restricted to what they can do, and he said all of the counties surrounding Seward County have volunteer fire departments.

Commissioner John Mettlen said Seward County has more fire trucks than full-time firefighters.

“We need to figure this out,” Mettlen said. “You have people here who know more about fires and how that works. With their help, we can do it. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but we need to put the effort in and figure it out.”

Steckel reminded audience members his responsibility is not just to Kismet, but to all of Seward County.

“I’m hesitant to sit only person over here because we’ve had problems with that throughout the years,” he said. “Four’s better to have in Liberal just for the sake we can get certain trucks out.”

Steckel too said the fire department not only fights grass fires, but structure and accident fires as well.

“If we get down to too low in Liberal, I can’t get enough trucks out to some of these vital calls,” he said. “That’s why Kismet hasn’t been staffed.”

Warden said one firefighter position had been eliminated recently due to budget constraints. Helm said the primary issue is communication, not volunteers.

Southwestern Heights FFA Advisor Carmelita Goossen said if firefighters are only kept in Liberal, a response time will always be an issue for much of the county, including Kismet.

“That’s true for all emergency management,” she said. “That’s why at Southwestern Heights High School and USD 483 we have a school resource officer now. You have people who live in this area you need to take care of, and that’s something you need to take into consideration.”

Commission Vice Chair Todd Stanton said putting the paid system in place along with a volunteer support system solves much of the problem.

“It’s a matter of deciding which of these paths you want to go down, and I think the commission will support your decision,” he said.

Along with many other locations, Kismet Elementary School was threatened by the recent fires, with the blazes coming quite close to the  school, and Principal Beth Mayhew too was left wondering when help would arrive.

“I was ready to evacuate all of my students,” she said. “As a principal, I was scared. I had no communication. I was a little irritated that we have people who live in Seward County, but they’re fighting fires for other counties. We have them. We need to utilize them.”

Helm said the county cannot afford the amount of firefighters for an efficient paid department, and he added even the Liberal Fire Department has some volunteers.

Questions were brought up regarding training, particularly where those trainings would take place with the main fire station located in Liberal. Steckel said no matter where they happened, he needed to be in charge of the trainings.

“When I’m supposed to be responsible for all of the firefighters of Seward County, it’s a little irresponsible for me to not oversee that every firefighter’s being trained,” he said.

Warden said paid or volunteer, potential firefighters would have to go through the county’s background check.

“We have to make sure there’s no reason why they can’t be a firefighter,” she said. “They have to go through the drug and alcohol training. There’s things we have to consider. They go through a full background check.”

Assistant Administrator Brock Theiner said the process is as simple as signing a waiver.

“When we do pass out the radios and you take direction from Brady, that puts us in a state where we’re liable for you,” he said. “Brady’s liable for your well being and your equipment.”

Mettlen said the culture of firefighting needs to be changed in Seward County.

“We need more firefighters,” he said. “We need more volunteers. We’re going to have to figure it out and work together and make it work for everybody the best we can.”

Theiner praised the current commission for utilizing tax dollars from Road and Bridge.

“I’ve been here 26 years, and this is the first time we’ve had a commission engaging with our own equipment and our own people,” he said.

Helm said bringing more volunteers to the current Rural Fire District is mutually beneficial to everyone.

“If you have a separate fire district in Kismet, you’ve got mutual aid coming and going,” he said. “To me, it makes sense to have one Rural Fire District that works for all and give us a chance to work on the volunteers and communication and methods..”

Steckel, though, said should a separate fire district be instituted, he would support that decision as much as possible.

“I would try to equip you an engine, try to get you a brush truck and try to get you equipment,” he said.

Helm said giving volunteers access to the Kismet fire station is also a necessity.

“It doesn’t do any good to have all the volunteers in the world if we don’t let you get in the truck and go fight the fire,” he said. “If you’re qualified, you’re qualified. We’ve got to have the communication. Someone has got to be in charge. If we’re going to have volunteers, we have to trust them to drive a truck and work on a fire..”

Commissioner Clay Louderback said the current commission is trying to listen to taxpayer concerns.

“We want to make this happen and change the culture we’ve been in,” he said. “We’re trying to implement what used to work in the past. We’ve just got to get it all in place and get everyone on board.”

Mettlen said all of Seward County’s population can work together to keep residents safe.

“We’re all in the same county,” he said. “In the end, it’s better for Seward County the more volunteers we have. I don’t see any downfall to getting more firefighters and figuring this out.”