Dade County amends Sand Mountain fire agreement; chiefs urge countywide recruitment incentives

Dade County commissioners approved an amended agreement with Sand Mountain Fire Protection Services April 2, raising the monthly compensation in the agreement from $2,000 to $4,000 and revising termination and renewal language to match other county fire agreements.

Mark Gibson, identified at the meeting as the chief of the area, told the board the consolidation of New Home and Davis under Sand Mountain reduces duplicative reporting and simplifies state incident reporting. "This allows us to put the two stations under one reporting number and simplify what typically takes about 15 minutes per department to write a report," Gibson said.

Gibson and other chiefs stressed severe volunteer shortages and the operating costs volunteers face. "Right now, I'm at nine certified," Gibson said when asked about staffing. He and several commissioners discussed low-cost incentives — paying the $20 certified-firefighter tag fee, covering occasional dump fees, or issuing local IDs — as practical recruitment tools. Gibson said a full set of turnout gear approaches $6,000 and departments cannot sustain pay-per-call systems on existing budgets.

Commissioners agreed recruitment proposals should originate with the chiefs and be brought to the commission for review. The board also discussed accounting and insurance structure for the DBAs (doing business as Davis Fire and Rescue and New Home Fire and Rescue) and directed staff to finalize the agreement with the agreed compensation and term amendments.

The amended agreement will be executed with the county’s finance and legal offices providing final copies to the commission. Commissioners and chiefs emphasized that these changes are intended to sustain volunteer response capacity countywide while buying time to pursue longer-term recruitment strategies.