Fire department hopes grant will buy equipment

The McCook City Fire Department is hoping for a grant that will cover 95 percent of costs for breathing equipment for the department.

The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be $142,310, with the city's five percent match of $7,540.

The current self-contained breathing apparatus is 11 years old and does not meet the standards set by the National Fire Protection Association, said McCook City Fire Chief Marc Harpham at the budget meeting Monday night. He told the McCook City Council that the grant, plus the city's match, would purchase 20 sets of the breathing apparatus.

The equipment allows firefighters to breathe in smoky or hazardous environments and consists of a mask connected to an air tank.

Harpham said the department would know if they received the grant as soon as within the next month or as late as January.

Also included in the 2008-09 budget for the city fire department are city funds for a thermal imaging camera at $15,000.

Harpham said the department has one thermal camera that is located on the rescue pumper fire truck, used for initial response to single-family, single-story residential structure fires. This camera would be located on the ladder truck that is used for the initial response to multi-family, multi-story residential structure fires, along with commercial/business fires.

The camera allows firefighters to find victims who may be trapped in a fire and to locate "hot spots" in walls and ceilings, eliminating the need to hack through the structure to find hidden fires.

The total budget for the fire department, if approved by the council, is $846,866, slightly higher than the 2007-08 budget of $777,896.

Ambulance:

The McCook City Fire Department has three ambulances on hand. The proposed budget for 2008-09 is $75,150, compared to $214,550 in 2007-08. The higher budget last year was due to the purchase of a new ambulance.

Civil Defense:

Improvements in the civil defense budget includes $40,000 for upgrades to the emergency sirens.

Harpham said a few of the eight city sirens are equipped with battery back-ups and the allocated funds would outfit all of the sirens with batteries. Sirens that cannot be updated would have to be replaced, he said.

In the future, Harpham told the council he would like to see the sirens activated by radio instead of a switch.

Total funds allocated to the department for 2008-09 are $48,980 up from $33,760 in 2007-08.

Library:

The preliminary budget for the McCook City Library is $288,479 this year, up slightly higher from $247,843 in 2007-08. Of that amount, $35,500 has been budgeted for for books and magazines, the same amount as last year.

Improvements included in this year's budget is painting the interior and cleaning air ducts at $11,800.

City Manager Kurt Fritsch said the improvements are only the beginning of upgrades planned within the next six years for the library.

"The big expenses are yet to come," he advised, using city sales tax dollars plus general fund money.

Planned improvements would be re-carpeting and an elevator to make the basement more accessible.

Patty Hall, library director, said the library's interactive/computer equipment continues to attract patrons, especially books on compact discs. When Hall buys a new book, she said she purchases it in hardcover, large print, and on CD.

The library is not the same as it used to be, concurred Fritsch, with all the technology now available.

"It's at a crossroads at what the library will become," he said.