Mike Voshel, president of the Wood County Fire Board, appeared before the Wood County Commission this week and spoke about the need of all local departments for volunteers and the rising costs for equipment. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — Billing for the county fire fee is running late this year, the president of the Wood County Fire Board told officials this week.

Fire Board President Mike Voshel appeared before the Wood County Commission this week to give the group’s yearly update.

Voshel said the company that handles the fire fee billing had a glitch that affected when the bills went out. The problem was caused by the departure of some of the company’s former employees.

“This year’s billing is running late,” Voshel said. “The billing should be going out (today).”

The company, which handles billings for other counties as well, has since hired new employees and reworked their systems.

County Clerk Joe Gonzales said the county has been collecting less and less of the fire fees. When it first started, the collection rate was in the 90 percentile countywide and it has dropped to around 77% this last year, officials said.

Commission President Blair Couch said officials with WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center have approached the county about funding to help the ambulance service.

“We might have to look at an emergency services levy for the fall,” Couch said.

One option could be to do away with the fire fee and include money from the emergency services levy to be distributed to the fire departments as well as the ambulance service, he said.

Couch is having a meeting this week with the Camden Clark Ambulance Service to see what might be needed.

Local fire departments are facing the same problems as many across the county in finding volunteers to serve, Voshel said.

“It is a nationwide struggle just to get volunteers,” he said. “We can always use volunteers to support the service.”

People interested in volunteering can contact their local departments. Many departments in the county have regular weekly meetings.

“People can go to their local fire department and talk to any member of the department and they can help set up something with the chief,” Voshel said. “Some departments have people file an application.

“All the departments in the area could really use the help.”

Voshel said they would also like to have some volunteers to serve on the local fire board, which is usually made up of three members of the fire service and three members of the general public.

The meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Judge Black Annex.

There is a lot of testing and training done for potential fire department applicants, he said.

Commissioner Jimmy Colombo asked if local departments have medical personnel as members. All the local fire departments have an emergency medical first-responder or an emergency medical technician (EMT) as a member, Voshel said.

Some have ambulances that will sometimes provide backup if an ambulance is not available.

There is a program at the Caperton Center at West Virginia University at Parkersburg that is helping to train people to get their certifications and license to be an EMT.

Voshel, who serves with the Williamstown Volunteer Fire Department, said they have responded to around 500 calls over the last year. Some departments have more with around 800-900 calls including medical calls.

Voshel said he believes around three-fourths of the calls departments respond to are to provide assistance and mutual aid with another department.

Williamstown recently entered into a mutual aid agreement with the Marietta Fire Department and have had mutual aid agreements with other departments in Washington County, Ohio.

“I think that is wonderful,” Colombo said. “For us to be able to help our neighbors in that way.”

In a number of cases, when a structure fire is reported in Wood County, three local departments are toned out.

Colombo asked about the state of local departments’ equipment.

“The big thing with the fire service (and medical service) is everything is automatically expensive,” Voshel said. “It is important for everyone to pay the fire fees as some of the departments use that money on a monthly basis and pay their utility bills.

“It could always be stronger, and we could always use more help.”

Both the Williamstown and Vienna departments also receive support from their cities as well.

Voshel said a fire truck that was purchased three to four years ago was around $780,000, but recently the same model with one additional piece of equipment was priced at $1.3 million.

To outfit one firefighter with a helmet, bunker gear and airpack has gone from around $10,000 to $14,000. New ultraband radio equipment for a single person has also increased to around $5,800 a piece.

“You have to do it,” Colombo said. “You have to keep up.”

“It changes every day,” Voshel responded.

The 98th annual West Virginia State Firemen’s Convention is being held in Parkersburg Aug. 5-8 at the Wood County Resiliency Center.

Members of the board and local departments will be asking for sponsorships for an event brochure they will be putting together. There are already around 100 local rooms that have been booked.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com