Putnam Fire Proposes Three New Full Time Positions

The Putnam County Fire Department has requested funding for three new firefighters.

Fire Chief Tom Brown said the new full-time employees would work out of the Monterey station.

“In our lifetime, we are never going to be a full-time fire department. I don’t know if we will ever be a fulltime fire department,” Brown said. “But if we can get full time around the perimeter, we will always have more trucks responding to wherever the call is.”

Brown said he would like to put full-time personnel into three more stations.

The new employees would rotate with 24 hours on the clock and 48 hours off.

“Currently all I have in Monterey is a part-time man and volunteers,” Brown said. “So it is going to ensure someone there 24/7, 365 days a year.”

The three new positions would cost the county approximately $88,500 next fiscal year. The county would also need to increase funding for part-time personnel by $14,014 to cover vacation and sick days.

County Mayor Randy Porter said the department needs part-time firemen to cover absent full-time employees.

“You have to, with EMS and Fire especially, and even with Sheriff and some of the other emergency service agencies,” Porter said. “You can’t just have one person on an ambulance. You have to have somebody to cover for them when they are off sick or on vacation, so we have parttime employees to do that.”

The Putnam County Budget Committee discussed the proposed budget Thursday.