The citizens of the Deaver and Frannie areas can rest easy because as of Monday, Feb. 9, the Deaver-Frannie Fire Department has taken over fire protection from the Park County Fire Protection District No. 1 and is set to provide local response for fires and other emergencies.
It has been a long road with many sleepless nights for members of the fire district board and others involved in the planning, according to board member Clay Ward, but now the district can move forward and focus on things like equipment needs, continued training and protecting the citizens who live within the district boundaries.
“We can move on to the things a fire district should be focusing on,” Ward said.
The Lovell Dispatch Center was switched over to receive 911 calls from the 664 prefix Monday at 8 a.m.
Tax assessment funds from Park County were pro-rated so that the Park County fire district received a portion of funds collected from Dec. 15 to Feb. 9, because at that time the area was still under their jurisdiction, Ward said.
Though it was a long process to get the fire district set up, Ward said they are now better prepared than many other departments in the state. Some of the things organizers worked on were submitting a petition to form the district submitting a map of district boundaries to the Wyoming Department of Revenue, acquiring and building suitable buildings to house operations and store equipment, devising an equipment agreement with the PCFD1, training firefighters and establishing dispatch arrangements with Lovell Dispatch and other agencies.
Ward said he and fellow elected board members Coleen Wagner and Shirley Banks have met several times a month to work on the issues associated with forming the new district. Ward applauded Craig Sorenson, who has been working toward a separate district since the Frannie fire station was closed in September of 2005, at which time it was a part of the PCFD1.
He also said many fire departments in the state have been helpful to the new district, donating equipment and working with them to obtain discounted equipment. The DFFD has a mutual aid agreement with the Lovell Volunteer Fire Department and currently, Lovell firefighters will respond along with DFFD personnel to any structure fire in the Deaver-Frannie area.
Looking ahead, Ward said the district is planning to purchase more pagers and possibly a used Class A pumper truck from a nearby department.
Ward said he appreciates the support from everyone who has been working hard to make local fire protection a reality, which will better serve the citizens of Deaver and Frannie and the surrounding areas with quicker response times. To better serve the people has been the intention of the fire district board from the beginning, he said.