JFPD starts building fund

July 31--MT. VERNON -- Jefferson Fire Protection District officials have set aside a building fund as part of a long-range plan to move out of its 74-year-old facility.

"It's a work in progress. It will probably be three years or better," said Chief Robert Beal, who informed members of the Jefferson County Board earlier this week of the district's plans.

The building fund was established when Beal began billing insurance companies for emergency calls to the two interstates surrounding Mt. Vernon.

In the two months since Beal became chief, he has billed $7,000 and has received approximately $5,000 back from insurance carriers.

"If the person does not pay taxes to our fire district, we can charge them $220 per truck and $70 per man per hour. So the minimum bill I send out is $220. This building is not going to cost taxpayers one dime, because all of this money is going into a building fund," Beal said.

Beal clarified interstate charges are not billed to people with no insurance.

"If they do have insurance under the law, 70ILCS 705/11f states we can charge," he said, adding, "Actually, I don't charge the insurance companies the full amount either. It's just a little recoup because a lot of people don't realize at Jefferson Fire we only get paid fire taxes. We don't get paid for EMS calls. All the emergency calls we run (i.e. car wrecks), if we don't charge them we don't make any money."

Beal said all of the emergency calls in the district, which covers 220 square miles, are free.

Beal said before construction can begin on a new building, the department would like to purchase a new truck, at an estimated cost of $200,000 to $240,000 equipped with extraction capabilities.

"We're not looking at buildings yet. We have to figure out how many bays we need and the type of construction we want, plus we have to have state right of way. There is a lot of stuff to figure out," Beal said.

Beal said the new station would be constructed on property the district currently owns, from Wescott to Gilbert, just north of Burger King.

He said the department would use the building fund and possibly finance the remainder of the project through an interest-free loan through the state fire marshal's office.

The department has 40 volunteers, four full-time paid staff and a part-time secretary.

Beal explained it costs the fire district more than $2,000 per volunteer, including $714 per year, per volunteer for workman's compensation. It takes about $1,300 to outfit a volunteer, including $70 for boots, and another $400 for radio equipment.

"Usually with 40 volunteers on a big call, we used to only have about five show up for a structure fire. Now that I've taken over and I do things by the book, we've had 15. They know I'm not scared to clean house," Beal said, adding about 20 volunteers are on a waiting list.

"It costs to suit them up. If they're not going to show up, we have to move on," Beal said.

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