Published: November 06, 2009 09:30 am      

Out of funds, Ninnekah may give fire department to county

The Ninnekah Town Council recently voted to turn its fire department over to Grady County.

Councilman Tony Ledrick made the motion to begin the process of handing the town’s fire department over to the county after it receives its ISO rating later this month.

The motion included assigning existing buildings to the county as well as five acres on Blue Bird Hill, which is the proposed location for a new headquarters fire station.

“I told the town council whether they do or don’t decide to hand over the fire department, the county commissioner’s board has to decide,” said District 3 Commissioner Jack Porter, who attended the Ninnekah Town Council meeting. “Before we consider it, we told the we’d like them to go through ISO.”

Porter said the problems at the Ninnekah station may not be a “quick fix.”

“If we take the department, our policy as a fire board is to provide for those who need help the most and it sounds like they qualify,” Porter said. “I don’t know what kind of shape their equipment is in, but it will probably take two to three years to get it where it needs to be, depending on the equipment they need and getting their records up to date.”

The Ninnekah Fire Department currently has an ISO rating of Class 7. The rating system is done on a one to 10 basis, with the lower the number, the better.

“They’re drafting a letter to try to get ISO here by Nov. 16,” said Grady County Fire Chief Perry Wenzel. “I don’t know if they’ll go up or down, but we don’t want to take on a station with a high ISO rating because the higher the ISO, the higher the insurance the community has to pay.”

Only insurance rates in Ninnekah would be impacted, Wenzel said.

Wenzel said insurance rates are affected by a high ISO rating because a high rating reflects the lack of adequate fire protection in the town.

While Wenzel said the town of Alex also has an ISO rating of Class 7, steps are being taken to lower that rating, including the installation of a new water tower.

“The new water tower will boost water pressure and that will help out a big bunch,” Wenzel said.

Unfortunately, Ninnekah does not have it’s own water system and does not have the funds to purchase a new system from Rural Water District 7.

“The town’s not having the money for a fire department has put a big burden on them. It’s been costing them a lot of money to keep it up and their tax revenue is down,” Wenzel said. “They talked to us to come in and take it over and get it off their hands, so, once the rating is up, we’ll take it over.”

Wenzel said the county will take over the fire department regardless of the new ISO rating.

The ISO (Insurance Services Office) bases its ratings on the number of fire stations and the amount of water a community needs to fight a fire, with 40 percent of the grading based on the community’s water supply.

It also reviews the distribution of fire stations in an area and checks to see that fire departments test their pumps on a regular basis and that they keep detailed inventories of nozzles, hoses, breathing apparatus and other equipment.

Other items checked are the type, extent and number of people who participate in training, firefighter response to emergencies and maintenance and testing of department equipment.