Brian Hughes
Phillip Wheeler was on duty in the Main Street median near the 11th district polling station at Crestview's First Assembly of God church.
Other Articles in this Category
Most Viewed Stories
Most Commented Stories
What is this?
Save & Share this Article
NOFD firefighters plead their case
2008-08-26 09:40:00
It promised to be another hot, sweltering northwest Florida day, but firefighter Phillip Wheeler was already on duty this morning.
A member of the North Okaloosa Fire District, he and his fellow firefighters fanned out across the region to put a person face on NOFD’s bid for a millage increase to fund their operations.
“We need this vote,” explained Chief Ed Cutler yesterday as he picked up an armload of stake signs from Signs Galore.
“Of all the fire districts in the area, ours is the biggest bargain for taxpayers,” he said. “We’re cheaper than garbage,” he laughed, a humorous comparison emphasizing that taxpayers pay more for garbage pick-up than they do for their fire protection services.
NOFD provides more than just fire-fighting services, Chief Cutler reminded voters. “We’re trained first responders,” he said.
Among the men and women who serve in his department are also trained paramedics. Cutler’s crews are also trained in managing and coordinating responses to emergency situations of all types.
If today’s millage increase referendum fails, Cutler foresees serious troubles on the horizon.
“We’ll definitely lose a lot of skilled firefighters to other fire departments eager to hire them,” Cutler said. “Our guys want to know they have stability in their jobs, and I don’t blame them.”
See archived 'News' stories »
Reader's comments
| You know some of your points are well taken, but the fact of the matter is if this doent pass this next time you will loose well qualified firefighters. Some of you that doent matter but some of you it will matter exspecaily when you life or your child is trapped in a house fire and you have to wait until Crestview or NOFD volunteers get there to help but it is to late. Then you can ask yourself was that 100 or so worth it. Guys this is a fact NOFD will go back to vollunteer if this vote does not pass this is public record be a concerned citizen and do your job come to the monthly board meetings and ask for the budget yourself. The Chief has not had a equipment budget in 5 years. Here is one more thing the county is required to provide fire protection, if you think that we are asking for alot then just sit back and wait until NOFD closes the doors and the county steps in and takes over they will just take the money from you. People wake up, get you priorties striaght is the beer and cigarttes more important than your life or love ones life. |
|
| Need to say - Aug 31, 2008 09:50:06 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| Thanks to those who voted yes on the referendum. Shame on those district residents who voted no and were supposedly uninformed. There were a total of six Town hall meetings and less than thirty district residents attended. For all the supposedly uninformed who called their insurance agents and were told that their insurance would not go up I have some prime beachfront property in Arizona to sell you. Insurance companies would go out of business if the told you the truth about everything they try and sell you. Matter of fact is if the ISO rating goes to a nine insurance companies can raise your rates as much as they want and as many times a year as they want because in the state of Florida if you have a mortgage you are required to have insurance. Did not think about that did you. As for those who say they see the fire department cars at different eating establishments around town make sure you see who the car belongs to before you say it belongs to the NOFD. As for working with the vehicles they have the oldest ones they have are over 30 yrs old. And I have it on good information that the department keeps very good books and squeezes the life out of every penny it spends. If the NOFD wants just one new fire engine they are looking at close to 500000 dollars for a new one. If the NOFD disbands and the city of Crestview takes over everyone will get to pay close to 6 mils lets see pay the one point two two mils and the 85 dollar flat rate the NOFD wanted or pay the 6 mil rate that Crestview charges and can raise at any time that is a no brainer. It is a shame that everyone thinks fire protection is free and that it does not cost much to run a fire department If you think those guys have it easy show up at one of the manned stations and let the guys give you a tour and you can see for yourself that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fire house |
|
| A Concerned NOFD Patron - Aug 30, 2008 11:03:23 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| You are right, the cars as was ours, are donated. However, it still costs money to operate and repair these cars and equip them with the needed lights, sirens and so on. The problem is that these cars are treated as personal transportation a lot of the time as when we see them at Azteca and other places in town. The trucks are needed a lot more than a car for the chiefs and assistants to ride around the town and back and forth to work. One way to cut expenses and raise money at the same time is to sell or raffel the donated cars and drive to and from work or to calls in the personal cars as we did. The fire departments will survive and fire protection will continue as it always has, if not volunteer departments will take over instead of one too large of an organization which always results in more costs to the taxpayers. In any account the public has sent a message to the NOFD which was to live within there budget at least until the economic situation in our area improves so debate at this time is for nothing. |
|
| Roy - Aug 28, 2008 11:59:27 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| It sounds as if posters and voters were ill informed of the increase and expenditures that the department would need and have at this point. I think 5 town hall meetings were held in order to explain everything including the state of the department and a total of maybe 25 people attended these meetings TOTAL. I understand and worry myself about the open ended possibility of the commisioners raising the millage at will up to the cap that was stated. However just as your voices were heard with this vote voices could once again be heard by voting out the commisioners who would raise it beyond their projected highs. There are board meetings every month that the public can attend. The fact of the matter is the general public does not care about the fire service until they are needed or they ask for more money. This increase was not intended for pay increases for the firefighters hopefully it would have been a side effect for them. Only to bring them up to par with the rest of the county. The increase was primarily going to be responsible to keep the firefighters that are there now. Which by the way is still below the recommended standard. Also I believe that most of the cars not firetrucks that are seen driving around are donated not purchased. Unfortunately the uninformed masses have spoken and hopefully something will be able to happen in order to keep our fire protection active in this area. |
|
| Increase Supporter - Aug 28, 2008 08:43:53 AM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| I can agree that the area has increased, however the fees have doubled also. They may in fact need a rate increase, but not a new tax which could be raised at will. It has already been determined by talking to our insurance companies that the rate increase would have been much more than the raise in insurance if the ISO rating changes. Compared to what we had when I was a volunteer you have great equipment and facilities to work with. Of course more money would be great, but not at a time when people are losing their houses because they can't pay the payments and taxes. Cut waste, get rid of cars to ride around town in and buy firefighting equipment. |
|
| Roy - Aug 27, 2008 11:27:22 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| Don't you just love it when people don't care about others and only themselves? The fact is in the past few years, NOFD coverage area has ballooned due to all of the new subdivisions going in. NOFD's expenses went up in order to provide a good ISO rating so that folks who live in the district could have good insurance rates. This fire department DOES rely on volunteers as well as paid firefighters. By voting no all that people have done is made it possible for a lot of good firefighters to lose their jobs when the district has to revert to all volunteer and then everyone's ISO rating will go up and they will have to pay out more money anyway. I don't know about anyone else, but I would MUCH rather see my money go to support a good fire department than and insurance agency. They get enough of our money as it is. As a volunteer, I will still work to help all those who chose not to help this department, even though all they have done is make it harder for me to help them. I volunteer because I want to make a difference, not for pay. |
|
| NOFD Volunteer - Aug 27, 2008 06:05:42 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| No Mary I guess I missed that one, I too believe that a coach should be paid the same as any other teacher and yes he should be teaching a class. At least sanity prevailed in the NOFD vote. Looks like enough people thought it the wrong time to raise taxes again. They can and will survive on what they get, but like everyone else would love to have more. They will cut costs and waste and press on or we will get a chief that can. Now if we can just get the school district to follow suite and stop trying to balance there budget with money from us parents. That's another story though, so I will press on with that one elsewhere. |
|
| Roy - Aug 27, 2008 08:30:31 AM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| Roy, I'm sorry we're getting a little off topic here. But since you asked, you must not be reading the papers. Didn't Niceville or one of the south county schools just hire a coach at an outrageous salary? He should be paid no more than any other teacher. Better still, give all the teachers who coach extra curricular activities a coach's salary. Football or basketball is no more important than the drama club, Spanish club, swimming team, dance squad, etc. That said, if my house were on fire, I want NOFD to have all the resources it needs to respond promptly with trained, skilled personnel who were at the ready and didn't have to drive over to the fire house from their real jobs. I would want them to respond with well maintained, up to date equipment, not some ratty old truck that is falling apart and deploys moth-eaten hoses that leak like a lawn sprinkler. I voted yes. It may cost me a few more cents each week, but it's worth it to protect my property. |
|
| Crestview Mary - Aug 26, 2008 05:24:24 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| You know if this doesn't go through, it will not only degrade dervice for the North Okaloosa Fire District, but it will also cause harm to the City of Crestview Fire Department. North Okaloosa Fire has a mutual aid agreement with Crestview and it also works the other way around. It also makes you wonder why Crestview Fire keeps growing? It is because many leave North Okaloosa and go to Crestview Fire. Some even work for both North Okaloosa as a volunteer, and Crestview as a paid firefighter, and often can work up to 16 hours a day just to get an income. Having a completely volunteer responce will increase responce times by around 10 minutes, as personel go to the station and pick up the response vehicle needed for the job and wait for the other firefighters to arrive. Direct response with manned stations will provide much better service to the areas surrounding Crestview. After all, wouldn't you hate to have to wait an extra 10 minutes for NOFD to get to your house when somebody is having a heart attack, or your house is on fire as you sit there helpless and watch it burn? EMS gets typically gets there after firefighters arrive on scene and have given care to the patient, as well as pass vital information to EMS. Crestview Fire typically gets there about 10 minutes after the call comes out for NOFD, partly in the delay of dispatching the call, which can range from 30 seconds up to 5 minutes, and the fact it's not Crestview normal coverage area. |
|
| ever wonder - Aug 26, 2008 03:48:32 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| Mary,I don't quite understand your statement, since when do our coaches not teach a class? I agree we pay the professional sports players way too much and that needs to stop as we pay the price through there sponsers products. I do not agree with the increase in fire protection fees. The fee has doubled since I bought my house and fell they need to cut back and reduce their budget just like the rest of us until the current economy downturn is over, then maybe people will be more inclined to approve it. The amount is rediculous though, and to give a non-govermental agency the right to raise the tax at will is a mistake. NOFD needs to utilize volunteers more, keep using the equiptment they have and work in a little less comfort for a while. How about getting out and raising money with fund raisers like we did in the all volunteer fire department? We did a great job of putting out house fires and we worked for free, with the public's thank you for our wages. |
|
| Roy - Aug 26, 2008 02:44:40 PM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| I just read my post and noticed I made a mistake. I meant to say this is about making sure our firemen have the resources they need to serve us. I did not mean to emply that overpaid football coaches need more salary. In fact, they shouldn't be paid any more than the best teacher a school has, and should teach classes themselves. |
|
| Crestview Mary - Aug 26, 2008 10:46:55 AM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| Dave, we live in a society that venerates football players and empty-headed movie starlets and gives them millions, but then begrudges the people who put their lives on the line for us and our children the money they need. That being said, if you bothered to do your homework into the NOFD case, this is not about coaches' salaries. This is about having the resources they need to put out your house fire. |
|
| Crestview Mary - Aug 26, 2008 10:44:44 AM | Remove Comment |
| | |
| Firefighters, teachers and police. They all feel they're underpaid and want more of our money. You knew what the job paid when you went into the field. If the money isn't enough to support your life style then find a new line of work! I'm tired of not being able to provide for my family so I can support yours. |
|
| Dave - Aug 26, 2008 10:31:23 AM | Remove Comment |
