ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Two of the citizen comments heard at last Monday’s Seward County Commission meeting concerned the county’s Rural Fire District.

The first heard firefighter Morgan West advocating for Interim Fire Chief Braden Steckel to become the permanent head of the department with applications for the position closing last Friday.

“For the last several months, we as a department have had to go day to day not knowing what the future of our department is,” West said. “Due to the state of not knowing or having clear answers, we’ve had to put several things on hold. As a department, we have rallied together and supported the county.”

Despite being short staffed, West said firefighters were asking for the support of the commission and the community to make Steckel the chief.

“As of July, Brady will have served the county for 18 years,” West said. “We are a family at the fire district, and there was no one else we would rather support the county with. We all have support and trust in Brady as a leader and chief. Thank you for your consideration.”

The second comment came from Kismet Mayor Rod Lewis, who addressed the lack of response from firefighters to a fire in that community April 14, as well the need to have a firefighter on duty in Kismet.

“We are here due to concern for the fact no firefighter was on duty in Kismet for the fire Tuesday, April 14,” he said. “There hadn’t been a fire or county firefighter at the Kismet station for about four, five weeks. Last Tuesday, if we hadn’t had Jeff Headrick and Rock Ormiston with their discs and maintenance containers, we would have had to start evacuating homes.”

Lewis said Kismet Elementary School would have likewise had to been evacuated, and this would include 160 plus children age pre-K to second grade, along with the school’s staff.

“It was only about two blocks from the school,” he said. “There was mutual aid that was called and asked if they could come. That was only seven miles away, and the county did not ask for mutual aid. We were very disappointed in the response time. It took 20 to 30 minutes before the first truck was at the scene. Fortunately, there were already two tractors with discs, and two of the county road graders were helping stop the progress of the fire. There should be a firefighter at the Kismet station during the day, especially red flag days.”