NEW COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM TO SERVE DISTRICT

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- The McClure-East Cape Girardeau Fire Protection District will place its new central communications system on line here Saturday.

"The new system will provide a central number for people to report a fire 24 hours a day," said Fire Chief Stanley Mouser. "We have installed a 40-foot tower at the Purple Crackle Club in East Cape Girardeau, and Crackle employees have been trained to operate the dispatching equipment."

The fire district has been talking about a central dispatching system for more than two years, said Mouser.

"Right now we are alerted through a telephone call-out system," said Mouser. "Saturday morning we'll go to a radio-pager system."

Each fireman now has a pager, said Mouser. "Once the dispatcher receives a call of a fire, each volunteer will be contacted by pager."

Mouser said the Purple Crackle had been selected for the base unit because it was the only place in the district that was open 24 hours a day.

"We will reveal the new fire number Saturday," said Mouser. "All Crackle employees have been trained for dispatching duties. Once a call is received, it will be dispatched to firemen.

"This is the first time since the district was formed that we have had this type of system," said Mouser.

The district, which stretches from the Alexander-Union County line south and westward to the Mississippi River and eastward to Clear Creek levee, serves about 1,800 people, including 600 residents of East Cape Girardeau and 300 of McClure.

"We have 18 active volunteer firefighters, said Mouser. "Most of them will have pagers. The volunteers meet twice a month," he said. "They have been attending school on their own time."

The district has two fire houses at McClure and East Cape and four vehicles.

"We have a tanker truck, two pumper trucks and a support truck," said Mouser. "The support vehicle carries firefighting apparatus and portable generators and lights."

The fire district was created in 1972, when voters approved a 30-cent tax levy and elected a board of directors to operate the district. Before that the fire department depended on donations to operate.