Agenda - 10-05-1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

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71.5 621 Ms. Anne Barnes, Chair Page Two Orange County Commissioners September 18, 1981 will alert us to any fire call in the county. We have direct radio communications with Central Dispatch in Chapel Hill and the Volunteer Fire Departments. We also have radio contact with our Forest Service network, and we have an Operations Officer on duty all, hours during fire season in our District Operations center. This enables us to interrelate fire location directions with the Fire Departments, give and receive fire situations, relay reports by our scout plane, contact Central Communications of unusual situations, etc. Our equipment consists of two three-quarter ton pickup trucks, one with four-wheel drive and one with two-wheel drive, with two slip-on pumping units with two hundred and fifty gallons of water, fire rakes, hand tools, and portable back tanks. We have up to one hundred seventy-five pounds of pressure on these units. Ihis equipment has been upgraded considerably since 1978 when we had one-half ton pickups with two-wheel drive, a one hundred gallon tank and small pumps mounted on the truck engines which produced fifty pounds of pressure. We also have a TD-9 Bulldozer stationed in Hillsborough that is dispatched as needed. We have an arsenal of forest fire equipment of every imaginable type across the state such as helicopters, airplanes, etc., should a special need arise. We work closely with the Volunteer Fire Departments as they are scattered throughout the county and are usually the first units on a fire scene. The Forest Service realizes their importance and has begun channeling available equipment and funds to them. We have furnished three Brush Trucks, and in some cases matching funds, along with back tanks and hand tools (Trucks - New Hope, Cadlwell, Cedar Grove Fire Departments). $8,300.00 in financial grants under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act has also been awarded to the New Hope, Efland, Cedar Grove, and Caldwell Fire Departments. We also hold training programs as requested as new personnel join the departments. We have a Smokey The Bear suit which we use in parades, school programs, etc. We also hold a number of programs for Boy and Girl Scouts, 4-H, Community Improvement Groups, and other interested parties. We have comic books, bookmarks, color sheets, rulers, etc., that we give to the children promoting fire safety. Smokey Bear will be used in the children's ward at the Burn Center in Chapel Hill next month. The County Ranger is a trained law enforcement officer having taken the necessary training and being sworn in at the Orange County Courthouse. I try to keep law enforcement low-key, however, and usually let the Sheriff's Department handle the more serious law