Lander County's three volunteer fire departments held their elections recently for chiefs, assistant chiefs and various other offices, with many officers retaining their positions.
The Austin Volunteer Fire Department held its election Jan. 8. Roger James was retained as the chief and Matt Moran took over the assistant chief position from Fred Jolly. Moran also became the department's new training officer, a position created this year.
James has been on the fire department for six years, serving as chief for four of those years. Prior to that, he lived in Kingston and served on the fire department there four years, three of those as chief, he said.
There are 11 volunteers on Austin's fire department. Four new members joined in December and were trained to use the fire trucks by Moran, who is developing a training schedule for the upcoming year.
The firefighters will work on becoming certified to use a self-contained breathing apparatus and do some hazardous materials training. They will also work to stay current on their structural and wildfire training, James said.
Members will be upgrading their training to meet federal and state standards for volunteer firefighters. Monthly trainings are conducted.
"I feel very good with the things that are going on in the department," James said. "We've got some people very eager to be on the department who want to protect the people of Austin and those driving through."
In 2013, the department saw responses to five vehicle accidents, three residential fires in town with no injuries, one hazardous materials call, one rescue call and two forest fires, he said.
The Kingston Volunteer Fire Departmen is a nonprofit charitable corporation with fire officers and corporate officers. On the fire side, Jerry Simoni was re-elected chief Jan. 25 while Bradley Ward and Adam Greenfield were re-elected assistant fire chiefs.
Ward handles business and public relations and Greenfield takes care of fire operations and training. There was originally only one assistant chief but in 2013, the position was divided, Ward said.
For the corporate officers, Simoni was re-elected as president and Ward remains secretary/treasurer. Officers may change at the Feb. 22 meeting, Ward said.
KVFD members have been busy with training. In November, they did hazardous materials training for awareness and operations, which included 32 hours of instruction and eight hours of testing. Ten out of the 11 volunteers have awareness certification and six tested successfully for operations certification.
Pump training was conducted Jan. 25.
In 2014, fire department members will work to have everyone meet the DMV requirements to operate heavy fire apparatus and water tenders. One firefighter is working to become certified to perform hands-on driving tests locally by completing a 16-hour DMV course.
The department will be taking an Emergency Vehicles Operations Course and a wildland fire refresher course, Ward said. There will be structure fire training and members will be working toward reducing the Insurance Services Office rating, which could decrease homeowners' insurance.
Firefighters will also continue with their firefighter one training. There will also be National Incident Management System training.
KVFD members logged more than 2,000 combined hours of training online, hands-on and in the classroom in 2013.
The KVFD saw approximately 10 calls in 2013 that included medical, vehicle crashes and wildland fires. Ward urged people to call 911 when there are emergencies.
"There were at least as many incidents where it would have been beneficial to call the fire department," Ward said. "The only way KVFD gets dispatched is when people call 911."
Anyone who is interested in volunteering on the KVFD can contact Ward at (775) 964-1034. Applicants will have to pass a state physical and a background check.
The Battle Mountain Volunteer Fire Department officers have two-year rotating terms. Chief Bart Negro was re-elected while Ron Unger remained assistant chief since his position will not be up for election until next year. Volunteer Dan Baldini was re-elected secretary/treasurer and Jimmy Drown was re-elected a captain.
Jason Williams is the other captain and will go up for election next year.
The firefighters meet on the first Tuesday of each month and then train on the third Tuesday, Negro said. There are 25 volunteers on the department and they are always on call.
The Battle Mountain Volunteer Fire Department responded to 73 calls in 2013 - 17 structure fires, 29 vehicles, 18 wildland fires, two electrical fires, four gas leaks and three fire alarms.
The department held its 76th Annual New Year's fundraiser raffle Jan. 1. Raffle tickets were drawn for approximately 570 prizes.
The funds from the event go toward training, equipment repairs, new equipment, hall maintenance and other expenses.
The department also donates to non-profit organizations, scholarship funds and assisting people who have been affected by a fire disaster. The members also put on the annual fireworks shows for the Fourth of July and New Year's celebrations.
Hill can be contacted at h.hill@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
