Kierra Reed
Gadsden County News Service
Gretna Fire Department has welcomed in a new truck with a push-in ceremony, which also enhances the department’s resources for community protection. This is a significant accomplishment for the fire department, giving the ability to have new equipment for a small, rural municipal department.
Before the new truck was added to the department, the city owned one fire engine, and another truck was an allocated piece of equipment from the county, which is also a fire engine. Now, with the new truck, there are three fire trucks that the city has access to.
The new fire truck can respond to brush fires, house fires, and auto accidents. Also, it allows the fire department to address many incidents with a single piece of apparatus. The truck has a 500-gallon tank, and the engine carries 1000 gallons.
One of the main things that comes with this new addition is having the chance to boost the ISO Rating. The ISO Rating is for insurance service organizations, and it’s a third-party rating system that insurance companies use when determining the insurance rates for homeowners and business owners.
During the last evaluation, Gretna scored 10, which is scaled as the worst, but with the new additions, there is hope to get the number to six.?
“When I became the Chief three years ago, my main mission was to rebuild the fire department and improve our ISO rating and having this equipment coupled with the improvements in our training and our overall equipment purchases now has us in position where we’re ready to be re-graded and reviewed again by ISO and that should give us an improved score,” said Dan Hunter, Gretna’s Fire Chief.
The cost of the fire truck was $350,000. The Florida legislature gave the city $239,000, and the City of Gretna put in the remaining cost, about $119,000. Also, as part of the legislative funding, the city got an additional $235,000 to purchase rapid response vehicles, which were modified to have different response equipment.
This investment in the fire department sends out a message to the community that the city has listened and is now taking the necessary steps to improve things that the residents have been saying.
“We’ve heard the cries of our residents as it relates to the impacts of the ISO ratings on their homeowners’ insurance,” said Antonio Jefferson, City Manager of Gretna. “The city commission, the laser focus on trying to position itself better relative to our ISO rating, and people should feel confident that now we have the most modern equipment available to respond to the various fire and crash incidents in our jurisdiction.”
