Gering City Council receives update on fire department

GERING, Neb. - (KNEP) - Gering City Council receives an update on what the volunteer fire department did throughout 2019 and what they are looking towards for the future.

At the bi-weekly meeting, Chief Nathan Flowers detailed the busy year they had and how they responded to two large residential fires and saw calls for four large storms. He detailed that their busiest month was July, their busiest day of the week was Thursday and the busiest time period was from 5p to 6p.

He also detailed 65% of their calls were EMS related and the average response time was seven minutes while average time spent on a call was a little over three minutes. They also received over $75,000 in grant funding and was able to get over $8,000 in material from donations.

The department also purchased a new fire truck in 2019. Chief Flowers detailed it takes twelve months to have it come in and they should see it in March. They will then work on getting it on the road in April. Chief Flowers stated they are working on selling their old truck.

The station has 38 volunteers and work in shift so that they have it manned 24-hours a day. Chief Flowers states last year the number of calls was an anomaly due to the storms but typically they see about 2% to 12% increase in calls per year.

This year the station is working on a community reduction risk program with the ultimate goal of keeping and bolstering more safety in the city. They continue to hold weekly training which includes either truck procedure or company drill. They also have an engine academy that will bring in 100-125 people from around the region for training.

Chief Flowers detailed they are also going to work on their incentive program. He states their program is good but they also want to focus on recruiting others as well. They are currently working with Gering High School to train through a six-month program. Since its inception in late 2017/early 2018 they have had 15 kids go through the program and retained four. Chief Flowers knows they will lose some to college or going into other programs but the typical average retention is between 20-30%. Because of that program, the average age of the station has gone down and they will also look at applying for a new Rural EMS Grant as well.

The Gering City Council moved forward with a plan to review the fire department’s incentive options and their 10-year fire and EMS statistics.