A proposal on the November ballot will ask voters to renew the fire sales tax for 21 years

Fire chief Rick Ennis remembers the day about 10 years ago he came to interview with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.

He flew in on a winter day to meet with city officials about the job and stopped at a local restaurant for dinner, when a nearby newspaper caught his eye.

The front-page story detailed the mechanical problems plaguing the fire department, which was down to just four engines in its motor pool for front-line response.

"I almost jumped on the plane and turned back around," Ennis said with a laugh in a recent interview.

The city was forced to rely on trucks that were nearly 30 years old. Soon after Ennis took over as chief in March 2004, the city's 1986 model ladder truck broke down while at the scene of a fire on Spanish Street. At the time, it was the city's only ladder truck and Jackson's truck -- the only nearby community that could send a ladder truck for immediate assistance -- was too small.

Capt. Ray Warner with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, left, runs command as firefighters Jamie Hann, center, and JoJo Stuart remove their gear after working a structure fire at 1036 South Sprigg Street, Monday, Oct. 6, 2014. Hann and Stuart were replacing their oxygen tanks before re-entering the house to check for hotspots. (Laura Simon)

The growing number of needs for the fire department and lack of available funds led the city council to approve a ballot measure that would establish a 1/4-cent fire sales tax. Half the tax would be ongoing and the other half would sunset in 10 years.

In June 2004, the measure was approved by voters by nearly 81 percent. Since that time, the funds from the tax have been used to purchase new trucks, including a second ladder truck, build a new station 3 and help keep equipment updated. It also helped free up general revenue funds to be placed in a public safety trust fund to be used for police department needs.

City manager Scott Meyer has called the renewal of the 1/8-cent portion of the tax a "continuation of something that was started 10 years ago." The proposal that will appear on the November ballot asks voters to renew the sales tax for 21 years.

The 1/8-cent sales tax renewal is expected to generate revenue of $1.2 million per year. Plans outlined by the city show half of the funding could be used for facilities and the other half could be used to replace existing fire apparatus, such as the trucks and SUVs, and police vehicles as necessary.

Space tight at Station 4

The biggest facilities project proposed is the replacement of Station 4 on Kurre Lane. It's the city's smallest fire station but responds to just as many calls as stations 2 and 3, Ennis said. Fire Station 1 on Sprigg Street is the busiest station and responds to twice as many calls as the others, he said. The fire department responds to more than 4,000 calls a year and averages an annual call volume increase of about 5 percent.

From the truck bay to the living quarters, conditions are cramped at Station 4. Privacy and safety are among the key concerns for Ennis and Capt. Randy Sander.

The captain's office, originally used as a storage space, sits open and allows no privacy to hold meetings or private discussions with individual firefighters. Steps away from the office is the living quarters, which Ennis likens to military dorms. The space includes four beds, with some privacy created by strategic arrangement of personal lockers.

The station was built in 1974 at a time when the surrounding area consisted primarily of single-family homes. As more businesses moved into in the area, the station became less equipped to handle all the needs of its district. For example, it's not large enough to house a ladder truck, which is needed for calls to larger commercial buildings and tall apartment buildings.

With both trucks in the bay -- the front-line apparatus and the reserve -- there's less than three feet for someone to enter the space from the door that connects it to the firehouse. Depending on how the truck is parked, it's sometimes not even possible to open the door fully. Sander, the Station 4 captain, said he can deal with the cramped living quarters, but he has a few frustrations when it comes to the bay.

The station had to acquire a smaller truck than it wanted -- and needed -- just so it would fit in the apparatus bay, Sander said. Station 4 is typically the lead on rescue calls, whether it be extrication, grain bins or any other confined space. But since the station had to use a smaller vehicle to accommodate the station's size, he said they sometimes have to rely on trucks from other larger stations to bring the additional equipment they are unable to carry.

If a new Station 4 were built, it also would include a buffer area between the bay and the rest of the firehouse. Right now, the bay is right next to the kitchen area. Weather stripping was placed around the door, but Ennis said it's hardly enough to keep out the exhaust fumes and other carcinogens produced when the truck is moving in or out of the bay. The limited space also has lockers with each firefighter's gear, including the protective gear, which can be damaged by repeated exposure to sunlight and Diesel fuel exhaust.

Capt. Ray Warner with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, left, runs command as firefighters Jamie Hann, center, and JoJo Stuart remove their gear after working a structure fire Monday at 1036 S. Sprigg St. Hann and Stuart were replacing their oxygen tanks before re-entering the house to check for hot spots. (Laura Simon)

Station 4 is the last of the stations not protected by a sprinkler system. Ennis joked that it's an important upgrade because the department likes to "practice what we preach." On a more serious note, he added that all improvements planned for the new station were made with the safety of the firefighters in mind.

"Duty crews live here 24 hours a day, so we're quite worried about their safety," he said.

Other facility upgrades that could be funded with the renewed fire sales tax include renovations to stations 1 and 2. Renovations to 1 would increase safety in the main lobby area.

Station 2 renovations would focus on additional space. The 24-year-old station houses a ladder truck and the truck that responds to calls at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, but any time another truck comes in for maintenance, Ennis said one or both of the vehicles must be moved outside. Fire tax funds would fund a maintenance bay, eliminating the station's space issue. Like Station 4, Station 2 similarly lacks privacy in the personal quarters, an issue that also could be addressed.

Vehicle rotation

While facility needs have been much discussed in the future of the fire tax, vehicle and apparatus needs are another important aspect. The tax will help keep the trucks on the recommended rotation schedule. Trucks should be pulled from front-line service every 10 to 15 years, depending on use, and some are creeping near that deadline. If the tax is approved, Ennis said, the department ideally would purchase a new engine in 2015, placing its 2005 model on the reserve fleet. The 1998 model currently in the reserve fleet would be sold.

Keeping up with the rotation is important to maintain a strong front-line fleet, but also means crews can have more faith in the reserve trucks. When a truck needs to be repaired, Ennis said, it can take two to three days, meaning the department must temporarily rely on the reserve to cover calls.

Ennis said a common question he hears when it comes to the fire trucks deals with overuse. Emergency medical calls make up a large portion of the calls the fire department receives and he said some question why the department doesn't use smaller more specialized vehicles instead of the fire trucks. He said that strategy wouldn't create the cost savings some might imagine.

"If we bought more specialized vehicles, that means more maintenance, more insurance, finding a space for them," Ennis said. "Even if we wanted smaller vehicles, there's no room for them."

The firefighters are cross-trained to handle medical, hazard and fire calls, Ennis said, meaning they're able to respond to multiple needs at a call. Numbers made available by the city show the fire department responds to calls in six minutes or less more than 85 percent of the time. Sander said the instances that take six minutes or more often happen when a truck is driving to the edge of its district to respond to the call. That response time could make a life-saving difference in some calls, since medically trained firefighters can begin addressing a patient before an ambulance arrives.

If the fire sales tax is not renewed, Ennis is concerned the department would regress to the time when it had untrustworthy machines and outdated equipment.

"It wouldn't happen overnight, but without that reliable funding source, our capabilities would deteriorate over the years," he said.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

1459 Kurre Lane, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

378 S. Mt. Auburn Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo.