Firefighters share in annual honor

Friday, March 23, 2007
Nevada Fire Department "Firefighters of the Year" were honored on March 15. Front row from left: Noah Webber, Heath Crowder, John McGraw, Tim Bullard and A. J. Terry. Back row: Bob Benn, Kevin Smith, Josh Smith, Steve Oberly, Bill Thornton, Larry Ferris and Kelly Wingert. Not pictured: Troy Denney, Taylor McKlintic, Jerry Cox and Matt Ballenger.

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada firefighters held the annual awards dinner March 15 at the fire headquarters in Nevada. Fire Commander Robert Benn thanked the firefighters for coming to the dinner and said he would be brief with his presentation; nevertheless, he managed to cover quite a few topics while he spoke.

Benn said the department will have driver/operator training for new hires and part-time firefighters.

"This will be in house," Benn said. "Tim Bullard is a certified driver instructor so we can do this on our schedule."

Benn explained that the training will consist of a 40-hour course that is to be held during a one-week period.

"We could schedule it for one day a week, but that would stretch it out and be cumbersome," Benn said.

The department is seeking to have its ISO rating evaluated during the course of this year. Currently the rating is a five.

"I think we could realistically go to a four," Benn said. "I'm hoping to have that accomplished this year."

A better ISO rating would affect the insurance costs all citizens of Nevada pay. Smaller numbers indicate a more positive rating.

"A better rating will save the people of Nevada money on their insurance and give them better service," Benn said.

Bullard expressed his opinion that not only could the department improve to a four rating, it could even get a three rating.

"I'm telling you right now we can get a three," Bullard said. "I'd bet you money we could."

Benn said the department responded to more fires during the past several months, but the monetary losses to property due to those fires had been on the decline when compared with other years.

"I looked at the number of fires, but then I got to looking at the dollar loss," Benn said. "In 2004, it was $3.7 million; in 2005, it was $500,000; and in 2006, it was $200,000. Fire incidents may have gone up but it may be that we're getting notified faster and are able to respond in time -- before too much damage has occurred."

Benn noted that most of the calls the department responded to in the past year were service calls -- school fire drills and public education, for example.

"Most of our calls are service calls," Benn said. "We had 100 fire calls, five explosions and 153 rescue or EMS calls, but we had 200 service calls."

Before presenting the firefighter of the year award Benn explained the selection process and why he made the decision he did.

"The Firefighter of the Year used to be chosen by the chief, then they were chosen by your peers," Benn said. "This year I did a lot of thinking about this. I discussed it with (public safety director) Gary Herstein, and he agreed."

Benn said that he appreciated the loyalty of each of the firefighters, who had to put up with a lot of confusion about the future of the department.

"First you had a chief, then you didn't; then you had a chief; then you didn't and then you had a fire commander," Benn said. "Through it all everybody stuck together and got the job done. That's why I think firefighter of the year should go to the entire department."

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