Lorimor working on restructuring fire department

Afton Fire Chief Brett Weis is willing to train a restructured Lorimor Fire Department as that would take the pressure and additional duties off of his department.

“Our main concern is Lorimor and New Hope Township,” Weis told the Union County Board of Supervisors Monday. He said Lorimor is working on reestablishing the department. Weis did not get specific when the Lorimor department did not have enough members to respond to calls. He was more concerned how it was handled and the image it portrayed.

“Let them get going again. There was a lot of people who didn’t have an idea they didn’t have any coverage, fire or EMS. They didn’t have any idea what was going on with Lorimor’s department. If somebody is going be chief and going to decide to quit they need to let somebody know. It’s their position. They are in charge of protecting those people, providing those services to this county. That is what they get the taxation money for.”

Since then, Afton has responded to calls in Lorimor’s territory.

“We are a volunteer department too, we are picking up half their calls because they are not responding,” Weis said.

Weis explained a mutual aid agreement between departments has to have a fire chief involved to request mutual aid and receive mutual aid.

“If there is not going to be a fire chief there, we are start going to look at different mutual aid agreements. I can’t keep running my stuff up to Lorimor all the time and paying our bills, fuel, tires, wear and tear if they are not going to respond and be responsible. I’m not getting any more taxation money out of it,” he said. “That’s the main reason.”

Weis said those in Lorimor would be trained in fire and EMS, which is common, but Lorimor needs to have its license reinstated by the state which he said can be difficult. Typically, 911 dispatch notifies Lorimor, but if there is no response within the first five minutes, Afton is contacted.

“With fire, they dispatch Afton right away. If Lorimor shows up, they don’t have the resources,” he said.

Weis said he has had preliminary discussions with those in the Lorimor department and he said they are open to agreements for Afton to respond to calls in New Hope Township, which is the northeast corner of the county including the town of Lorimor. If agreements can’t be made, Weis said he would consider having a merged department with Lorimor but requested he be named chief.

“We will help them out all we want. It’s great to have a fire department there, versus us trying to get up there 100 mph from Afton,” Weis said. “If we do it, it’s my way and I’m going to be chief, plain and simple. We have a reputation to uphold.”

Weis said 15 minutes is needed to get to Lorimor from Afton.

“Fifteen minutes is too long,” he said. “Part of your county that has been unprotected. The people who were unprotected had no idea they were.”

Lorimor Mayor Tim O’Neil and council member Jody King were in attendance but declined further comment.

In other county news...

County Recorder Katie Carlton said she has approved the COTT System, an online program informing residents when their name has been used with documents in Carlton’s office. She informed the supervisors earlier this month of the program.

Carlton had said she does not have enough evidence to show fraud is a problem in Union County, but the program will notify registered people whose names are used. She added how it’s possible for someone to forge a name on a document regarding the transaction of property.

“They will get notified if anything is registered in our office,” she said. “If we enter in that name into the system, the customer is notified something has been recorded under their name.”

After she made her initial proposal, she asked residents through her department’s social media site if they would be interested in using the program and she was pleased with the positive response.

“That was significant enough to move forward,” she said.

Carlton said she does not know a date yet when COTT will be accessed through Union County’s website. She is also considering providing times where residents can visit her office to input their name in the system. There is no fee for residents to participate. The county will pay a one-time fee of $1,085 which Carlton said is in her budget.

She expects residents to be notified via email when the system detects their name.