Stella Fire Department Still Hoping For Tax District

The heel of the boot on Charlie Colvin's bunker gear is halfway peeled off.

The Stella Rural Fire Department chief pulled out his bunker gear to show its condition. Bunker gear is the protective outerwear that firefighters use when fighting a fire. All the department's bunker gear is four years out of date, but it cannot afford to buy new gear because the gear starts at $3,000 per person, Colvin said. The department hopes the voters will approve a tax district in the spring so that the department can have a reliable budget.

Currently, the department relies on membership dues, but not everyone pays them all of the time. With dues being unpredictable, it is nearly impossible to make a budget, because dues could raise $5,000 or $40,000, Colvin said.

He wanted to encourage residents to pay their dues, because currently, that is all the department is running on, and if the tax district does not pass, it will continue to be the department's only funding. He also said if a person has not paid his dues and has a fire, the department will charge $100 per hour per apparatus, according to state statute.

"We hate to do it, but everybody who has been paying their membership (dues) has been covering everybody who hasn't," he said.

He noted the department has applied for two FEMA grants, one for bunker gear and air packs and another for radios and communications. If the department does receive the grants, the 4% match will be $25,000, which the department does have set aside, he said.

The Stella Rural Fire Department was formed in the 1980s. There used to be a Stella City Fire Department as well, Colvin said. The city went broke, but the Stella Rural Fire Department remained. It has five fire stations and almost 40 people in its department, some of whom are full-time firefighters elsewhere. Most of the lands for the stations were donated by people in the community, Colvin said. He said the community has been very supportive.