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2009 – 2010 Accomplishments
Administrative Assistant
In the last year, we established a part‐time Administrative Assistant position. This position has helped reduce the work load of the department officers and facilitate the use of building services to the community.
Department Restructure
In the last year, the department has restructured its chain‐of‐command to help the information flow and manage our span of control. The needed ratio of managers to subordinates ranges from three to seven, with five as an optimum. (see attached company flow chart)
Volunteer Officer’s Office
In the past year, the department established an office for the volunteer officers. This office gave the volunteer officers a place to do their work duties and shows our support for our volunteer members.
Implementation of the Burris Road Station
In the past year, the department has finished its plan to provide fire, rescue, and medical services to the "Denver" area of our district. It is a 5,000 square feet sub‐station that houses one full‐time Engineer. It also houses two fire apparatus to ensure the fire department’s ISO Rating Class 6 is extended to the new area and citizens.
2010‐2011 Fire Budget
We prepared a budget that secured the jobs of all the paid staff for the next year. We also prepared the budget to help reduce the fire department’s debt and with this good business practice, we will save money by reducing the amount of interest we pay.
FEMA Grant
This fire department hosted a federal grant that is helping 14 fire departments, 5 rescue squads, and CCEMS towards interoperable communication. The grant will provide the county departments approximately 356, 800MHz radios at a total value of $1,004,954.00. The federal government’s portion of the grant covered $803,963.20 of this. Our fire department will receive 30 of these 800MHz radios.
Lowes Grant
In the last year, our department applied for and received a Lowes Home Improvement grant for $14, 0000 to fully equip the new Burris Road station. We were able to purchase the kitchen appliances, tile for the kitchen and bathrooms, and washer and dryer, with no extra cost to the citizens.
Sheriffs’ Office
This fire department has worked with the CCSO to move more law enforcement resources to the Sherrills Ford area. In 2008, we started renting the Sheriff’s department a room in the back of this building so they could offer more service to southeastern Catawba County. In the last year, they have increased their staff located in the area to 2 detectives, 2 Terrell deputies, 2 lake patrol deputies, and 1 Zone Four deputy. Most citizens don’t see the fire department as a community support center, but we try to bring all the services we can to our area.
Aquapalooza
In the past year, this department planned and orchestrated a water based event new to Lake Norman. We had approxmtly1,000 boats and approximately 3,000 people in attendance. This department led the planning and held the Incident Command position the day of the event. This was a multi state/county/agency event that entailed: NC DOT, NC Hwy Patrol, NC Wildlife Commission, Iredell County Sheriff Office, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, Lincoln County Sheriff Office, Catawba County Sheriff Office, Catawba County EMS, Catawba County Emergency Management, Catawba County Fire Marshal’s Office, Sherrills Ford
‐Terrell Fire& Rescue, Shepherds Fire Department, Gilead Fire Department, East Lincoln Fire Department, Denver Fire Department, Oxford Fire Department, US Coast Guard Auxiliary, State Certified Life Guards, and Event Staff. We are now in the planning stages of the 2010 event and everyone has elected us to head it again.Company Patch
‐ Mission Statement‐Value Statements‐Company SloganIn this last year, we reworked our department patch. The old patch was generic and used by many other fire departments across the country. We wanted to show that Sherrills Ford was unique and had its own values. We have also attached a copy of our new Mission Statement
‐Value Statements‐Company Slogan.