Their decision probably isn’t popular among some members of the Mayville Volunteer Fire Department, but Mayville Village Board members made a smart decision recently holding off on the purchase of a $1.2 million fire truck.
There are two reasons holding off is a good call, in our opinion. First is the belief among state Insurance Service Office department officials that there may be less expensive used fire trucks available in the near future that could save the village money.
But the bigger reason is arguably more important and was rightly recognized Tom Carlson, a Chautauqua Town Board member and Mayville resident, with agreement from fellow Chautauqua Town Board member Scott Cummings — it may be time to merge the Dewittville, Hartfield, Mayville and Chautauqua fire departments to pool both manpower and equipment.
It’s no secret that small fire departments in many of our rural communities are struggling to recruit new members. The struggle for rural fire departments to have enough volunteers to respond to emergency medical services calls during the day is one reason Chautauqua County started its fly car service. There are yearly calls for area residents to consider volunteering for their fire department, but as our county’s population ages and shrinks, there are fewer and fewer people with the time and ability to volunteer at their local fire department.
That means, in our opinion, that it’s time to think about the problem differently. That’s what the county did with the fly car system. And it’s what residents in towns and villages throughout Chautauqua County need to consider.
The county’s mutual aid system means the Dewittville, Hartfield, Mayville and Chautauqua fire departments already work together frequently. It’s time, in our opinion, for a serious discussion of the equipment and manpower needed to serve the greater Mayville area’s firefighting and EMS needs.
The results of those discussions will dictate the need for a new fire engine.