Does this mean next time a car rear ends another car, and there are no injuries, and broken grills on the road, there will only be 4 tanker trucks, one hook and ladder, one SUV and two ambulances…instead of the the 5th tanker truck?

Wake up citizens of St. Charles County, we have to MANY fire district’s to many fire taxes. We need one unified fire district.

Several weeks ago, I saw training being held in Cottleville. Every department in attendance drove a big fire truck. There was 6 parked on the parking lot of St. Joseph Church.

Look at large municiplaities around the US then look at St. Charles County, after this factor in the population of coverage. You will then find we are spending about 2x the amount required since we are funding the “kingdomitis” of fire districts around the county. We have 35 fire statiosn throughout the county. Let’s name the districts:

1. St. Charles
2. Cottleville
3. OFallon
4. Central County
5. Wentzville
6. Lake St. Louis
7. New Melle
8. Augusta
9. River Pointe
10. Orchard Farms

I am sure every fireman, fireman’s wife, etc will jump on this comment and point out the great work fireman do. I am not arguing this point. Fireman do great work. However, as a tax payer it would be great to have a centralization of resources. Instead of overlapping services.

we could cut out half of the fire stations and equipment, but then it would take twice as long to get to your house. with this kind of comment you have made this would be a fitting thing, may be you could just stop paying taxes and they could just not stop by WHEN YOU NEED THEM as anyone who does take the time to think there will be atime when you will need them

I am thankful that my Fire Captain was not seriously injured. The fire was out and in an extra effort to further reduce damge to the home the men and women of the department were patching the roof while it was raining.

This injuried Captain has a wife and two children at home and everyday he leaves to serve the city by following our Misssion:

Service without boundaries, compassion and integrity in all that we do and have the courage to move forward.

The Captain was directing his crew providing service, and compassion for the family who lost their home. I am proud of him for that.

The city of St. Charles has 5 fire stations to serve a population of approx 65,000. Each fire truck has an assigned paramedic on it to better respond to life threaten injuries with the highest level of care availible with in the state. The city has crossed trained our personnel not only to fight fire , but to care for the sick and injured.
This saves tax payer’s money. You get two important positions for the price of one. The department runs over 8000 call per year. Several years ago the Insurance Service Organization (ISO)(who sets residential insurance rates) evaluated the city’s fire protection ability. The rating is 1 through 10. One (1) is the best and ten (10) is the the worst. We receieved a rating 4. ISO recommended 10 ten fire station in the city of St. Charles. We do it with five. So, there are not ample fire stations as you think.

I feel our municipality is responsible with our tax payer’s money and we provide a high quality service for a citzens and keeping your insurance rates down.

The county is a large one and 35 stations are needed. If we decided to cut half the stations in the county your insurance rates would go up.

Article was about a fire that accorred and a fine man was injured, but instead of offering well wishes you have decided to critize the fire service in St. Charles County.

Sicerely, Ernie Rhodes, Fire Chief
City of St. Charles

Our mission is; Service with out boudaries, compassion and integrity in all that we d, and to have the courage to move forward. What is yours?

I am thankful that my Fire Captain was not seriously injured. The fire was out and in an extra effort to further reduce damge to the home the men and women of the department were patching the roof while it was raining.

This injuried Captain has a wife and two children at home and everyday he leaves to serve the city by following our Misssion:

Service without boundaries, compassion and integrity in all that we do and have the courage to move forward.

The Captain was directing his crew providing service, and compassion for the family who lost their home. I am proud of him for that.

The city of St. Charles has 5 fire stations to serve a population of approx 65,000. Each fire truck has an assigned paramedic on it to better respond to life threaten injuries with the highest level of care availible with in the state. The city has crossed trained our personnel not only to fight fire , but to care for the sick and injured.
This saves tax payer’s money. You get two important positions for the price of one. The department runs over 8000 call per year. Several years ago the Insurance Service Organization (ISO)(who sets residential insurance rates) evaluated the city’s fire protection ability. The rating is 1 through 10. One (1) is the best and ten (10) is the the worst. We receieved a rating 4. ISO recommended 10 ten fire station in the city of St. Charles. We do it with five. So, there are not ample fire stations as you think.

I feel our municipality is responsible with our tax payer’s money and we provide a high quality service for a citzens and keeping your insurance rates down.

The county is a large one and 35 stations are needed. If we decided to cut half the stations in the county your insurance rates would go up.

Article was about a fire that accorred and a fine man was injured, but instead of offering well wishes you have decided to critize the fire service in St. Charles County.

Sicerely, Ernie Rhodes, Fire Chief
City of St. Charles

Our mission is; Service with out boudaries, compassion and integrity in all that we d, and to have the courage to move forward. What is yours?

Dear Ernie Rhodes, Fire Chief:

I appreciate your input of providing statistics. This allows one to bring up some very interesting points.

The City of New York, which has a population of 19,000,000 has 221 fire stations. This is an average of 1 fire station per 88,235. If the city of New York followed the same guidlines used in the city of St. Charles, they would have to build another 1279 fire stations.

The city of Los Angeles CA has a population of 3,800,000. The City is comprised of 106 fire stations (and LA is vastly spread out). This is an average of 1 fire station per 35,849. If the City of Los Angeles followed the same guidelines used in the city of St. Charles, they would have to build another 194 fire stations.

I could go on and on and on. In short, Fire Departments in St. Charles County represent a HUGE source of tax dollars being wasted.

I am sorry for the injury of the fireman. I am sure he is a wonderful man, father, co-worker, friend, church member, uncle, cousin, etc.

However, you can not argue the basic facts of fire department spending excess in St. Charles County. If one wants to, I will be glad to continue to point out other city’s as comparisons. I think it woud SHOCK the readers.

Dear Ernie Rhodes, Fire Chief:

One more example a little closer to home:

St. Louis, Missouri, population 350,000. STL has 13 fire stations. This is an average of one station per 26,923. STL would have to douoble there stations in order to keep up to the St. Charles, standards.

Taxed Out - if you lived in the City of St. Charles, you would not have to pay a fire tax.

Dear taxed out,
Here are the true statistics for you, thought you should have them since some of your numbers were wrong.

St. Louis City:
Population 350,000
Stations 30
Fire companies 36
Ambulances 13
Fire personnel 830
Square miles 62
Total Calls 101,844

So this equates to:
1 station per 11,666 people
1 station per every 2.5 square miles
1 fire truck per 9,722 people
1 firefighter per 421 people
1 ambulance per 26,923 people
And an average call volume of 2,829 calls per fire truck.

New York City Fire Department:
Population 8.3 Million
Stations 221
Fire companies 359
Fire personnel 14,800
Square miles 305
Total calls 473,335

So this equates to:
1 station per 37,556 people
1 station per every .8 square miles
1 fire truck per 23,119 people
1 firefighter per 560 people
And an average call volume of 1,329 calls per fire truck.

Los Angeles City Fire Department:
Population 3.8 Million
Stations 106
Fire companies 148
Ambulances 128
Fire personnel 3,594
Square miles 498
Total calls 338,733

So this equates to:
1 station per 35,849 people
1 station per every 3.36 square miles
1 fire truck per 25,675 people
1 ambulance per 29,687
1 firefighter per 1,057 people
And an average call volume of 2,288 calls per fire truck.

St. Charles City Fire Department:
Population 65,000
Stations 5
Fire companies 5
Ambulances 2
Fire personnel 75
Square miles 20
Total calls 8,228

So this equates to:
1 station per 13,000 people
1 station per every 4 square miles
1 fire truck per 13,000 people
1 ambulance per 32,500
1 firefighter per 866 people
And an average call volume of 1,645 calls per fire truck.

So as you can see your tax dollars are being spent on a service that is comparable to other departments all over the country. And I don’t know about you, but I would rather have a service that was above and beyond the standards of the rest of the country, not just average.

In response we are going to look at the numbers that actually matter.

Any one that is informed knows that “call outs” is a BS number. That is why you see 4 trucks arrive at a call. It then counts as a “call out” and pads numbers. This is also why when police officers request that the fire department be dis-regarded, multiple trucks still arrive at the scene. To get there “call out” numbers.

So let’s look at YOUR number:

New York City Fire Department:
Population 8.3 Million
Stations 221

So this equates to:
1 station per 37,556 people (this mean St. Charles City shoudl have 2)

Los Angeles City Fire Department:
Population 3.8 Million
Stations 106

So this equates to:
1 station per 35,849 people (This mean St. Charles should have two)

St. Charles City Fire Department:
Population 65,000
Stations 5

So this equates to:
1 station per 13,000 people

St. Louis City:
Population 350,000
Stations 30

This equates to:
One fire station every 11,666 residents. (by your numbers, this is comparable to St. Charles City. However, this is something that we should not be proud of)

In the end, no matter how you cut it, slice it, say it, etc, St. Charles County has been SOLD on overpaying for fire department funding. Fear sells.

I also, love the comment in which the author states if you live in St. Charles you do not pay taxes for Fire Departments. This person should go to the assessor’s office and have his tax bill broken down. I guess, they think it is free?

Then lets look at the multiple districts and fire house placements. We have been focusing on St. Charles since the Chief wrote comments.

St. Charles is not the focal point. The focal point is 10 fire districts in the county. Fire Stations could be closed if one department theory was utilized. How much over lap does Central County have with stations in Cottleville, O’Fallon, etc.

You can argue this all day. However, if this was a business and a well run business (which government has proven they know nothing about) there would be MAJOR changes to the way fire departments/stations are structured in the county.

However, men/women protecting there own personal interest and status will fight this to the end out of fear of losing thier slice of the pie. They will use fear to sell this concept. In the end, the tax payers are overpaying to maintain buildings, equipment, etc.

Taxed out, you’re wasting your time, plus the the idiots(the voters, i.e. in Cottleville and Central County), just voted in tax increases on themselves and always vote in the union backed candidate for the boards in these districts. So, basically that’s what they want and they’re too stupid to figure out they’re being taken to the cleaners. Don’t try to be logical and reasonable with this, it’s not worth it.