Hennessey lost three downtown buildings Sept. 30, 2007, due to a fire and Enid and Guthrie’s ladder fire trucks are probably what saved the town from losing the rest of the west side in the 100 block on South Main Street.

That’s what Hennessey Mayor Bert Gritz said as he showed a photo on a SMART Board of that fire and Enid’s ladder truck during last Thursday evening’s board meeting.

His comments were in response to questions about why the town needs a ladder fire truck.

Gritz, who is also fire chief, said fire departments from Kingfisher, Dover, Waukomis, Cashion and Okeene also responded to that fire.

He showed the 2007 photo after a lengthy board discussion about Trustee Richard Simunek’s agenda topic and written complaints to the board, media and others, questioning the need for a $1 million fire station expansion to house a ladder truck “for three feet.”

Gritz said it’s up to each fire chief as to if, and which trucks, will be sent to a fire out of their district.

“I was very thankful to Enid for that big ladder truck,” he said, adding it pumped 500-600 gallons a minute.

Assistant Fire Chief James Matousek proposed the future firehouse expansion at last month’s town meeting.

He said the department had been saving its county sales tax money for years and the board approved use of the town’s property for the expansion.

Kingfisher County Commissioners approved the fire department’s use of its county sales tax funds the next week.

Simunek questions need “for three feet”

In his letter, Simunek wrote that the board was told the main need for the ladder truck was to protect The Dome and hotel.

“No other reasons were given,” he wrote. “A careful analysis of these two structure indicates their fire risk is very low and does not support the $1.85 million expenditure.”

A $1 million number for the structure and $750,000- $850,000 for a ladder truck were the estimates given by Matousek last month.

Trustee Harold Shaw said a ladder truck would also be useful in home fires.

“We have a lot of houses that are built close together,” he said, “and they have to be able to get water over to them and over fences.”

Gritz agreed with Shaw and said they had a recent experience with a privacy fence.

He also reiterated “it’s for future expansion. We’re just trying to get everything set so we can do it when we’re ready.”

Rush-rush proposal

In his letter, Simunek also wrote the fire station expansion “expenditure is a rush-rush proposal” to spend the “county funds without giving appropriate consideration to public safety response calls and wildfires.”

Simunek also wrote: “About 70% of Fire Department calls for help are for public safety. For Oklahoma, wildfires are a huge problem.”

Gritz said it might be “rushed” to the board, but he and Matousek said they’d been working on some kind of a plan for years. Gritz said they waited to bring it to the board until they had something to show them.

“You sprung the proposal on us last month and already had an architect’s drawings though,” said Shaw.

Gritz said they didn’t hire an architect.

“The architect came up with the plans contingent on getting the job,” he said.

Shaw said he’d done his homework after last month’s meeting.

He’d called a lawyer and found out they couldn’t build it without the town board’s permission, but could use the county funds without the town board’s approval.

Matousek told the board last month they’d tried to buy nearby property for the expansion over the years, but without luck.

Vice Mayor Clif Vogt said during an earlier agenda item that he’d had questions about how that would affect the parking at the library, but it wasn’t addressed.

Simunek called ISO

Simunek said he called the ISO (Insurance Services Offices) and was told that both Gritz and Matousek keep on top of the town’s ratings.

The ratings are done every five years, and are complex, said Gritz.

“They come in and pick 13 building fire hydrant plugs,” he said, then added that it’s not just based on the number of stories of structures, but on the square footage and occupancy, number of fire hydrants and yearly checks completed, number of firefighters and their training and equipment and the number and condition of firefighting vehicles.

The firefighters also check 10,000 feet of fire hose every year.

Gritz said they are proud of their ISO rating of three.

(Note: the lowest number is best for structure owner’s building insurance, and many years ago Hennessey had a rating of eight).

Thanks

Simunek thanked Gritz and Matousek for the information.

Gritz said last month that he and Matousek used to change the oil on the fire trucks to save the town money in their early days on the fire department.

They have more than 80 years of combined firefighting experience in Hennessey, the board was told, and they want to make sure when they leave that it’s in good shape for the younger firefighters.

“We’re also known to be tight with money,” said Matousek from the audience.

He added that they wouldn’t need town money for the building, but when it came to the ladder truck they’d expect help from the town.

At the meeting

In addition to four board members, also present at the board table was Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman.

Other staff at the meeting were Kati Walters, accounts payable clerk and town clerk; Shelley Burch, utility billing clerk and town treasurer, and Police Chief Ed Cangiano.

In the audience were David Jones, a town board candidate and Matousek.