The Albertville City Council approved a motion to allow city staff to assist in daytime fire emergencies Monday, acting on a request made by Albertville Fire Chief Tate Mills Monday evening.
"The fire department is short-staffed for daytime fire emergencies, so we have talked about allowing city employees to respond on an emergency, non-medical basis by driving trucks and manning pumps," Albertville city administrator Larry Kruse told the council Monday night.
The Albertville Fire Department currently only has a crew of 5-6 people available during the weekday, daytime hours. Ideally, having a city employee drive the truck or man the pump would free the crew up to fight the fire.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Albertville fire chief Tate Mills said. "We are a commuter area, so many of our firefighters are on the night shift because their day jobs are away from the area. That, combined with the economy, leaves us in a bind."
The city employees that would be helping are a group of five men who work in public works or wastewater treatment workers.
"They will go through inhouse training on operating the pump, engine and the 800 MHZ radio system. Down the road ,fire training may come, but for now they will not be fire fighting," Mills said.
"I don't anticipate any overtime [for the fire work]," Kruse told the council just before the council unanimously agreed to pass the motion.
If you are interested in joining the fire department as a fire fighter, there are applications available at Albertville City Hall.
