Several big and potentially expensive projects, dealing with fire safety and emergency management, are on the agenda for a special Carthage City Council Public Safety Committee.
The meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30, at the Carthage Fire Department.
Among the items on the agenda are accepting a bid to rebuild a fire engine that was involved in a traffic crash in October 2011 into a dedicated tanker, accepting a grant from the Steadley Trust to pay for the tanker project, discussing new storm sirens for the city and discussing specs for a new fire pumper to replace the one being converted into a tanker.
• The committee will discuss the specifications for new storm sirens to be installed before May.
Carthage Mayor Mike Harris said he’s asked that the project, which would replace all 11 storm sirens in the city with new sirens, be fast tracked so the sirens can be in place by the next severe storm season.
Carthage Fire Chief Chris Thompson said many of the 11 sirens in Carthage date from the 1950s and one siren is completely inoperable.
Thompson said he plans to ask for requests for proposals from a number of vendors to decide how many sirens the city needs and where they should be placed.
“The goal is to completely cover the city,” Thompson said. “With the newer sirens, if we can do that with fewer than we have now, that would be great, but we’ll see what happens.”
Thompson estimated that the cost to purchase the sirens alone would be $20,000 each, not counting the cost to set them off and poles and other items used to install them.
• Thompson said the committee would consider four bids to rebuild the damaged engine into a tanker.
Engine 612, the department’s newest fire truck chassis mated to older pumps and a tank, was hit from behind by a car while it was parked on U.S. Highway 71 in a position to protect emergency workers checking on the occupants of a car that had run into the median on the highway.
• Thompson informed the city at its regular city council meeting on Tuesday that the Steadley Trust had granted the city $100,000 to pay the costs of rebuilding the tanker.
Thompson said $100,000 should cover the entire cost of the project.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the Steadley Trust for their support on the fire tanker,” said Mayor Harris. “Their help is a big boost to the city.”
• In other business, the committee will also consider Thompson’s specifications for a new fire engine to replace the damaged engine and will hear a report from Thompson about this year’s round of Emergency Management Performance Grants from the federal government.
Thompson said the city has applied for more grant money to rebuild the basement of Carthage City Hall into an emergency operations center.
