THE BATTALION
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1979
Page 7
the city
.S., county settle fire bills
Anti-Khomeini
Iranians form
protest group
■Negotiations between Brazos
Dounty and Bryan-College Station
over firefighting services have now
leached the bargaining table.
■College Station is presently in
volved in a contract dispute with the
[county over fire services. Under the
esent contract which expired Dec.
|the county pays College Station
henever the city attends a fire out-
le the city limits.
■ The city claims the county has not
id for several calls over the past
,_v years. To help resolve these dis-
Hpites, Brazos County and College
Station are now working on a new
pe services contract.
lAlthough the city of Bryan does
Bt have a contract with the county,
Jey do handle several rural fire
|ls, and are concerned with the
bntract negotiations.
^County Judge Dick Holmgreen,
is representing the county in
‘negotiations, says this problem is
Bt a new one.
[This problem, and it is a prob
lem, in Brazos County developed
! to eight years ago, ” said Holm-
ten. “As community develop-
pts in the outlying areas grew,
liny people moved out there to
Ive the city, because of no city
les, the availability of open space
pund their homes, or various other
sons. Many of these people are
[at I refer to as city people. ”
These people, says Holmgreen,
learned to expect certain city
vices.
['Many did not realize that they
Ire no longer in the city,” said
ffiflgreen. “But now they sudden-
Irealize that some of the services
:city offers are not included in the
|al areas.”
\ccording to the city charter,
^re is no rule stating the county
vernment is responsible for fire
rotection in rural areas.
■“Because of the growth in these
Tnmunities over the years, cities
|ve seen fit to go out into the rural
and fight fire one-on-one,”
plmgreen said. “In other words, if
ere was a fire and they got a call,
Bn they would go. ”
■Doug Landua, College Station fire
|ief, said the dispute between the
unty and the city has been going
for quite awhile. The 1978-79
[liege Station Fire Department
is an example.
[During the fiscal year of 1977-78,
Tire department had an operating
[dget of $479,468. Fire calls out
lie of College Station amounted to
|00,688, or 21 percent of the
Idget, Landua said,
j “In the fiscal year of 1978-79, we
ade a total of 907 fire runs, ” said
jmdua. “Out of this, 102 were out-
Je of College Station. Those runs
jstus $14,005.37. That’s three per
United Press International
HOUSTON — An Iranian in
dustrialist who fled to Houston
about three months ago said the
occupation of the U.S. Embassy
was designed to mask failures of
the current Iranian government.
Ali Ebrahimi, in an interview
published Saturday in Houston,
said the embassy takeover is a
manuever to create international
conflict in order to cover up the
economic and social failures of
the regime of Ayatollah
Khomeini.
Ebrahimi said he has formed
the Iranian Committee for the
Release of U.S. Hostages,
(ICRUSH) comprised of leading
Iranian international industrial
ists, to express indignation over
what the Khomeini government
has done.
cent of our operating budget. ”
The county is billed on a per-run
basis. The county does not pay for
the stand-by time, or the time spent
waiting for a fire, Landua said.
Another obstacle in the way of the
rural fire service calls is the lack of an
adequate water supply.
“If you don’t have anything to
hook up to, it gets to be a real prob
lem fighting any grass fires or some
thing that could pose a threat to
homes or property,” said College
Station City Councilman Homer
Adams. “Out in the county, it’s diffi
cult sometimes to get water.”
The fire departments have always
had problems with the lack of water,
Landua said.
The city does, however, have fire
vehicles equipped with pumps to
connect with alternate water
sources, such as ponds and tanks.
“It used to be we didn’t have any
hydrants outside of the city limits, ”
he said, “so we always had problems
finding a water supply.”
Landua said the city often had to
resort to a shuttle effect to resolve
the problem.
“We would go out and use the
water we had, then drive all the way
back here and get more water,” said
Landua.
“It was easier if we had two units,
though. One would battle the blaze
said, so this accounts for overlapping
of units attending the fires.
The College Station city officials
feel a central dispatch unit would
help solve some of the problems, but
even it has drawbacks.
“There are problems, however,”
said one city official. “You must train
people in the dispatch unit, you
must decide on the type of system
you want and you have to build a
place to house it all. It takes money.”
“In spite of the problems we had
in the past with the county commis
sioners over the payment of rural
“To get the reimbursement, we
gave the county a 30-day notice
in September to solve the prob
lem or face termination of the
contract. ”
“We would go out and use the
water we had, then drive all the
way back here and get more
water. ”
while another would go to get wa
ter,” he added.
Landua said some trips cost as
much as $50 because of the coming
and going for water. He convinced
the county to have fire hydrants in
stalled in small towns to aid in the
water shortage problem.
The situation is better, Landua
said, but there are still areas that
need water supplies.
Another major problem which
needs to be solved in the new con
tract is the communication between
the city and area volunteer fire de
partments, said College Station City
Manager North Bardell.
There have been several inst
ances, Bardell said, when the city
was called to a rural fire and when
the truck arrived, a volunteer unit
had already shown up to fight the
fire.
Landua feels the communications
problem is due in some part to the
sheriffs department, which handles
all rural fire dispatches. There is no
central dispatch system between the
volunteer units and the Bryan-
College Station fire departments, he
calls, we now have all that straight
ened out,” Adams said. “To get the
reimbursement, we gave the county
a 30-day notice in September to
solve the problem or face termina
tion of the contract. ”
As a result of the notice, the coun
ty asked for a deadline extension to
better organize the rural volunteer
fire departments. These volunteer
units would help alleviate the rural
fire calls to Bryan and College Sta
tion.
The county is now taking further
steps to try to find a solution to the
fire service calls problem.
"The county budgeted $51,000 to
be used for fire surpression for both
(city) departments and a communi
cation system,” said Bardell.
The central dispatch unit would
be on a different frequency than that
of Bryan and College Station, says
Bardell. Although the central unit
would be only for the volunteer fire
department’s use, both cities would
monitor the frequency. This way,
added Bardell, responses could be
made to mutual aid calls.
Mutual calls are calls by fire units
asking for assistance from other
units.
These calls would be answered
only if the fire departments making
the call felt the need for assistance.
The dispatching system would also
put an end to both city and volunteer
units attending a fire when only one
is needed. With the present system,
the city fire departments have no
way of knowing whether or not a
rural fire call has been answered.
Even though the dispatching sys
tem would be a definite advantage,
the delayed response time to rural
calls is still a problem, said Landua.
“The response time for Bryan and
College Station to these rural calls is
going to be above the maximum
limit,” stated Landua. “It may take
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17-19 minutes to answer a call in the
county, whereas it only takes three-
five minutes in the city.”
Despite the fact rural calls will be
answered sooner, county officials
don’t want to create a false sense of
security.
Citizens living in the rural areas
presently receive the same fire ser
vices as citizens of College Station,
but without paying the taxes that city
residents do. The deadline for this
city service will continue until July
1, 1980, if the city council members
vote to extend the time limit.
The College Station city council
said their main concern in this mat
ter is whether or not College Station
is getting the best values out of their
tax dollars.
“I think the people in the city
would be served best if they (College
Station fire department) didn’t
answer any county calls and kept all
units ready for city fires,” said Bar
dell. “I think we should get optimum
usuage of equipment and man
power.”
Adams agrees.
“If we respond to any county calls,
the citizens of College Station or of
Bryan are getting it in the neck,”
commented Adams.
“However, our obligation is to
serve, and we will remain in that
capacity on the basis of the present
contract until something happens.”
COURTS UNIVERSITY
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“Expert boot and
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104 College Main
Northgate
846-6785
For him, fashion pendants at delightfully low prices!
a. Anchor and chain, $15 b. One-diamond dog tag, $25
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Elegant gift wrap at no extra charge.
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Also available, Zales Revolving Charge.
The Diamond Store
STUDENT ACCOUNTS
WELCOME
Illustrations enlarged.
Make
IHAPPY COTTAGEl
Your Christmas
Headquarters
|We have:
Music Boxes
Tree Ornaments
from Germany
Nativity Sets
Pyramids
Nutcrackers
!• Jewelry from around
the world
I (Located across from Luby’s)
STYLE SHOW
Tuesday Dec. 4
At
Rosewood Junction
5-7 p.m.
“the latest in fall and winter western wear
KOSEWOOJ3
JlJjXCriTON
5-7 Happy Hour
2 for 1 drinks
Culpepper
Plaza
When in Southern California visit |
UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS
AN ASPEN FILM SOCIETY WILLIAM E. MoEUEN
DAVID V. PICKER PRODUCTION
A CARL REINER FILM
STEVE MARTIN
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READ THE WARNER BOOK
A UNIVERSAL PICTURE
• 1979 UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS. INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_ RESTRICTED
UNDER 17 REQUIRES ACCOMPANYING ■
PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN I
Coming For Christmas.