Published: July 24, 2009 08:43 pm      

JFPD not obligated to help Belle Rive

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The Jefferson County Fire Protection District is not required to respond to calls in the village of Belle Rive if there is no chief, according to JFPD Chief Mike Huntman.

“Our mutual aid agreement is with the Belle Rive Fire Department, not the village,” stressed Huntman. “We are not obligated to respond to a call if Belle Rive does not have a fire department.”

Though JFPD covers 220 square miles of Jefferson County, with three substations located in Ina, Dix and Opdyke, Huntman said there is a misconception of the district’s coverage area.

“People are clueless on what’s going on,” he said. “It’s so misleading. There are six to seven fire districts and we’re one of the largest. But we do not go county-wide and not all of the county has fire protection. Moore’s Prairie is the biggest township with no protection.”

Jefferson Fire entered into a mutual aid agreement with the Belle Rive Fire Department in February 2004, Huntman explained. Only the Belle Rive fire chief or an officer under his direction can request mutual aid from JFPD.

“It shall be the responsibility of the chief of the responding department to determine whether and if apparatus and personnel can be spared from the responding municipality or agency in response to the call,” the agreement states. “If the chief of the responding department determines that apparatus and personnel cannot be spared in response to the call, the chief shall advise the chief of the calling department of that determination immediately, and the responding department shall be under no obligation to provide apparatus or personnel until such time as the chief of the responding department determines apparatus and personnel can be spared.”

“It states we have the right to refuse mutual aid if we don’t have the resources,” Huntman interpreted.

“Our taxpayers are going to come first. That’s when you rely on other departments like Webber, Waltonville, Mt. Vernon and Dahlgren.”

However, he reiterated that JFPD would respond to a call outside of its district if the incident was life-threatening or involved a school or church.

Huntman says as long as Belle Rive continues to have a fire department, and a firefighter at the scene calls and requests mutual aid, then JFPD — as long as it is not engaged in a call in its own district — will respond.