Gordon still struggling to find firefighters

Gordon’s fire department woes are beginning to hit home.

Firefighters, or a lack thereof, was the topic of conversation at a recent Gordon City Council meeting.

“I had a lady who lives in Gordon and knows me,” Councilwoman Dawn Beck said. “When she got her (new homeowners insurance estimate), she couldn’t afford her insurance.”

City leaders last summer received word that the Gordon Fire Department had “failed the minimum requirements to be recognized” by a nationwide fire safety ratings service. That decision was reached by Verisk Analytics, the company tasked with assessing fire departments and assigning an Insurance Services Office (ISO) fire safety rating for communities across the country.

This dropped Gordon’s ISO rating to a Class 10, the lowest possible. This was bad news for property owners, as ISO ratings are included in the formula used to calculate homeowners insurance. Added the email: “Most US. insurers – including the largest ones – use PPC information as part of the decision-making process…Each insurance company independently determines the premiums it charges its policyholders.”

Gordon’s lowly ISO rating certainly has nothing to do with equipment. At last count, the city of Gordon had three fire trucks, or one for every 600 citizens. Also, the city’s fire hydrant system always makes the grade.

Instead, it all boils down to the number of firefighters. For many years, the GFD has relied largely on volunteer firefighters. Like volunteer fire departments across the country, however, the GFD has had difficulty recruiting and maintaining volunteer firefighters. The GFD currently has zero volunteer firefighters, despite making an extra recruiting effort since last summer. 

A total of four certified GFD firefighters, whether volunteer or salaried, are required to be present at a structure fire in order to avoid the dreaded Class 10 ISO rating.

Beck had some tough questions and accusations for Chief Nathan Cole at the recent meeting.

“I’ve had people tell me that you’re turning volunteers away,” Beck said. “In fact, I have two that are certified.”

Cole disputed this.

“No. I haven’t seen any applications or interest or phone calls or voice mails,” he said.

Mayor Aprill Adside-Smith encouraged Cole to keep trying.

“If they’re local and they want to help the fire department, by all means, we need to make sure they have the credentials,” she said.