Officials optimistic on fire district

CLOVIS — The Countyline Fire District is still five months away from being a certified volunteer fire department, and probably at least two years from having an official fire station. But the district’s fire chief and county officials are optimistic.

Presuming certification happens in August after Countyline’s 12-month probationary period, Chief John Novak said, it would be responsible for approximately 140 square miles south of Curry Road 8 and between Curry Roads E and W — basically, south of Clovis between Melrose and Texico.

Jurisdiction currently falls to the Clovis Fire Department.

“There’s a lot of residential area in that district, and along with that is a lot of commercial property, especially on U.S. 70,” County Fire Marshal and Safety Director David Kube told The News. “Obviously, the cheese plant is in the district and there are various dairies.”

Dollar-wise, Kube said, the cheese plant is the biggest asset in the area, but a county resident’s home is just as important to protect.

The Countyline Fire District — CFLD to eliminate any confusion with the Clovis Fire Department — is currently working with an engine, a brush truck and a command vehicle, and operating out of an equipment barn housed at the Curry County Fairgrounds. The current location falls outside of the district boundaries, but Chief John Novak said when there is a fire departments are more concerned about knocking the fire down than jurisdiction. The district hasn’t done any official calls, but Novak said it has provided assists.

Once Countyline is covering the area, aid will still be provided by the CFD in various instances. But having Countyline in place shrinks the CFD’s coverage responsibility and improves its fire rating that is tied to state funding and overall property insurance rates.

The district has 11 volunteer members, including two paramedics and three EMTs. The state wants at least 12 people to establish a fire district, and Countyline had that before somebody moved to Colorado in the last few weeks. Novak would like 20 because the more people a department has, the less taxing the responsibilities are on volunteers.

Following certification, Novak said, the next step is to establish a station. Given its interest in having nearby fire protection, Southwest Cheese has donated about five acres of land off of Curry Road 6 between Curry Road K and the Portales highway. In the event of a fire at the plant, response time would be about seven minutes faster from the proposed station location than the county fairgrounds.

August certification is the first hurdle, Kube said, and that would qualify the district for state fire fund dollars and other funding avenues. Kube said the county is looking into a Community Development Block Grant to build the future station.

“If we’re successful with that process, things would go much faster,” Kube said. “We could probably have a station within the next 18 months. Otherwise, we’re looking at a few years for funding for a station.”

Novak has spent 30 years in firefighting and 11 years as a chief, all in Arizona, before coming to New Mexico to work for American Medical Responders.

Applications to serve in the district are available at the county administrative complex at 417 Gidding. There are various reasons somebody would want to serve in a volunteer role, Novak said — self-satisfaction, a call to service, an adrenaline rush, training and experience to be a more appealing paid firefighter candidate and above-average insurance policies.

Still, it’s a tough recruiting job.

“We have more competition for people’s spare time than volunteer departments did in the 60s and 70s,” Novak said.