Montgomery County District Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Management Rick Whitson proposed an overhaul of the rural fire departments regarding where the county's money is going and how they would operate.

 

Whitson said that one of their fire trucks is 50 years old. He said that there could be huge ramifications if that truck were to get into an accident. Whitson proposed hiring someone to check and document any issues the trucks might have to avoid a situation like this.

 

Whitson also said that new volunteer firefighters need to be trained better. These courses would provide liability defense in case something goes wrong.

 

Whitson also is planning on reducing the fleet of firetrucks. This would eliminate any trucks that are deemed to be "liabilities" and are not being used or are old and breaking down.

 

Whitson said that the main goals of this overhaul are liability defense and safety for the rural fire departments. No action was taken regarding the proposal and more details will be ironed out in next week's Montgomery County commission meeting.