City Council approves agreement for automatic aid for fire services with the county

Published 3:00 pm Saturday, March 7, 2020

The Dalton City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Whitfield County for automatic aid for fire services and first response during the council’s meeting last week after hearing additional information from Dalton’s fire chief.

This establishes an automatic aid agreement between the city’s and county’s fire departments for services in specific areas, according to the city. The agreement was previously approved by the city’s Public Safety Commission, “with the request and understanding that the chiefs of both departments work together to increase the number of those that are EMT certified as well as the placement of those that are certified.”

The Dalton Fire Department has at least three firefighters on each of its trucks at all times, with four firefighters on all ladder trucks, while the Whitfield County Fire Department has two firefighters on duty at each of its stations “at least 90% of the time,” said Todd Pangle, Dalton’s fire chief. The Dalton Fire Department has 48 of 87 firefighters trained as EMTs, with four trained as paramedics, while the Whitfield County Fire Department has 36 of 107 firefighters trained as EMTs, with two paramedics.

In the Dalton Fire Department, “we’re developing a program in-house to bring those (EMT) numbers up,” Pangle said. The department also attempts to distribute EMTs equally so every station has at least one EMT on every shift.

In 2019, automatic aid for the Dalton Fire Department from the Whitfield County Fire Department totaled 19 instances, most of which were to The Farm, a subdivision in the Mill Creek area with a county fire station only 2.4 miles away and a city fire station twice that distance away, Pangle said. Last year, the Dalton Fire Department gave automatic aid to Whitfield County areas 131 times.

The council also approved an architectural agreement between the city and KRH Architects for a roof project on Station 1 on School Street. The roof is 30 years old.

The roof decking has rotted in spots over the years, and there are “several leaks throughout,” Pangle said. There was also “a mold issue in 2001 due in large part to roof issues.”

In addition, the council approved a traffic control change for “No Parking — This Side of Street” on the east side of Lance Street and the west side of Richardson Street. This was a contingency of a rezoning request the council approved in February for developer Bryan Spence.

At their February meeting, the council allowed three acres along Lance and Richardson streets to be rezoned medium-density, single-family residential (R-3), instead of the current high-density residential (R-7).

Spence plans to build a dozen houses on the tract of land, with the majority of the houses measuring approximately 1,200 square feet, the developer explained last month. Those will be occupied by owners, not rental entities.

The council also approved an alcohol beverage application for El Comal Tienda Y Cocina, at 616 Fourth Ave. This is a new license to pour beer and sell packaged beer, said Annalee Harlan, who represents the Second Ward and made the motion to approve the permit. The license had already been approved by the Public Safety Commission.