Sweetwater County is investing a little more to keep fire protection across the county strong.
Sweetwater County Fire District No. 1 Chief Scott Kitchner spoke to the Board of County Commissioners during their May 6 meeting to request an increase in county funding for fire calls and seasonal firefighters. The commissioners unanimously approved the increases to the fire contract agreement.
"We're just trying to make sure we're either breaking even or making just a little money on top," Kitchner explained of the fire call rate increases.
The fire district, which covers county fires and bills the county for the costs, did a review of their contract rates and expenses from last year. Kitchner explained that they had 19 billable calls last year. They reviewed their expenses as well, with Kitchner noting that some calls can be 40 to 50 miles away, so things like fuel costs add up.
"It was really close to us losing money on certain calls," Kitchner explained. "Some we broke even and some we made a little bit."
The first district lost money in their budget last year, and Kitchner said with the way things are going he expects that to happen again.
"We just felt that we needed to make sure that we weren't going to be at that fine line where we might possibly lose money on it," he added.
Because the district wants to continue working with the county while still keeping costs down where they can, Kitchner said they decided to do a minimal raise per call, increasing each category's current rate by $100. He said this will allow them to see if the raise will cover costs over the next year.
The other raise the fire district requested was an increase to the wages of seasonal firefighters.
"The reason why we're seeking an increase for these positions is that we're finding it hard to be able to keep kids that want to stay with us," Kitchner said, explaining that workers often leave when they find out they can make more doing the same work with other agencies like the Bureau of Land Management. "It's been very difficult to compete with other agencies."
The fire district currently pays seasonal county employees around $20 an hour, and engine bosses $25. Kitchner has compared this with other agencies, which often pay $6 to $8 more per hour.
"It would be nice if we could bump this pay up a little bit for these guys, be a little more competitive, maybe hopefully get better, more qualified people," Kitchner said.
The fire district came up with two options to increase pay for seasonal workers, with one options based on a flat rate of a few more dollars per hour, and the second option based on percentages.
Kitchner also explained that the money to pay the seasonal workers is billed to the county to cover the specific amount.
"This is something that we absolutely make no money on whatsoever," Kitchner said.
He noted that the seasonal firefighters also work directly on county fires and aren't utilized for the district, unless the district requests mutual aid work from the county. The seasonal workers are also available to help other entities that request mutual aid.
"They're a county-wide resource," Kitchner said. "They can go anywhere... If Green River has a fire out in the county area, we can send them over to that too, if Green River requests us, if they need them."
Commissioner Mary Thoman asked what the seasonal workers do when there aren't any fires, and Kitchner explained that they work on training, checking and maintaining fire hydrants, helping water districts, working with the BLM, and more.
"We find fire-related type things for them to do," he said.
Concerning the raise in rates, the commissioners were understanding of the desire for the fire district to be able to cover their costs and be competitive with hiring.
"I think what Scott is asking for is extremely reasonable at this point in time," Commissioner Robb Slaughter said.
The commissioners voted to approve the agreement including the new contract rates for 2025 and the hourly cost increase for seasonal firefighter wages.
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