Residents of the Mohawk Valley east of Springfield will vote this May on a levy to support their rural fire district.
The 5-year operating levy would create two full-time firefighter positions and support a student training program. Currently, Fire Chief Steven Wallace told KLCC, the district has four employees who work five days a week. The rest of the time, they rely on volunteers.
Wallace said the levy will make it possible to have 24-hour staff coverage, and “reduce response times” he said. "And our student program is a way for us to also give back to our community as students who apply for the program will be given preference if they live in the Mohawk Valley.”
The student program will include lodging at one of their stations, a stipend, and college tuition money.
The levy would cost homeowners 60 cents per $1,000 assessed value of their homes or roughly $240 a year.
The Mohawk Valley Rural Fire District has an area of 27 square miles but is spread over an area of 19 miles in length. MVRFD also provides wildland fire, EMS, and rescue response over the Mohawk River Watershed, which is an additional 150 square miles.
Wallace said it’s been harder to recruit volunteer firefighters.
“When I started 24 years ago, we were around 200 calls a year with about 45 volunteer firefighters,” he said. “Today we're averaging five to six hundred calls a year with only about 24 volunteer firefighters and half of those live outside of our fire district. So they have a very delayed response time.”
Wallace said they’ll still need volunteers for larger fires in the district.
