THE McKINLEY COUNTY FIRE ADMINISTRATION OFFICE
Overall History
Before the establishment of the Office, the existing fire
districts were independent, and although they were county owned there was only
the local chief to fend for money, equipment and establishment and directly
appealed to County Government. As the Districts grew in number, this
became a problem as there was not a central person or office to see to the
needs of the volunteers. Thus, McKinley County Fire Marshal's Office was
established 1988 and was seated at Gallup
FD Station #1. The head of the Fire
Marshal's office was August Martin who was hired at
the inception of the Fire Marshal's Office until 11-96. On 11-96, Bruce
Swingle took over, and left in 04-97. On 7-28-97 Joseph Rodriguez started his
employment with McKinley
County as the Fire
Marshal and Loss Control/Safety Officer and left employment on 2-6-98. Mr. Trujillo
was then appointed head of the department and the department was renamed “Support
Services”. In 2004 Ms. Bowman was named
as Director of Fire/EMS
services Administration and Mr.
Trujillo was named County
Manager. Over the years, the office relocated several
times and through the efforts of Ms. Bowman, Chief Louie Chavez, and local
legislators, found a permanent home at 413 Bataan Memorial Dr. which houses the
administrative offices, Fleet Shop, several scene support trailers, vehicles
and a Fire training tower/building and grounds that are state of the art and
rival larger departments. In 2007 the Emergency Manager, Mark Diaz added to the
fleet a $370,000 mobile command vehicle from homeland security. In
January 2008 Ms. Bowman transferred to Metro Dispatch and the office was split
between Mr. Woolman,
Fire Services Coordinator and Mr. Diaz Emergency Manager who had oversight of
the EMS
sector. Mr. Hoffman was overseen by Mr. Diaz but worked cohesively with
Mr. Woolman. In November 2008 Mr. Diaz retired, the Emergency Management
Office was tended to by the County manager while Mr. Hoffman assisted. In
January 2009 EMS
was returned back to the Command of Fire when Mr. Woolman was appointed
Chief of Districts. Mr. Hoffman was placed under Mr. Woolman's command upon
request and thus reassembling a proper Fire/EMS
command structure and Mr. Hoffman was named Chief of EMS
and the Deputy Chief of Districts.
Mr. Anthony Dimas was hired as the
Emergency Manager and the office separated from the Fire/EMS services and
serves under the County
Attorney.
General Information
In 1988, McKinley
County received
$121,000.00 in participation with the State Of New
Mexico's Fire Protection Fund. Currently McKinley
County is now
receiving about $1,200,000.00 (a 100% increase) in Fire Protection Funding
which is based on the districts ISO ratings. In Mr. Martin
introduced the 1/4% cent Fire Tax currently assessed in the county, and at it's
peak; generated more than $770,000.00 per year that is distributed by the Fire
Tax Advisory Board with recommendations from the Fire Administration. The
current Fire Tax is declining due to the shut down of several key industries
and new numbers are not available. The future may be brighter for the
Fire Tax as there is active recruitment of large industrial ventures.
However, in 2002 we implemented the ¼ cent EMS
and Communication Tax that has supplemented the revenue to maintain
Communications and EMS
operations with 2/3rds of the money going to Metro Dispatch (communications)
and 1/3 to EMS for a remaining
few years.
McKinley County Fire is the direct
fiscal agent for all McKinley County Fire/EMS
agencies, County EMS
divisions, several other neighboring tribal agencies and 3 private EMS
Agencies to total 31 entities, and helps support other public safety agencies
to include the Sheriffs Office.
The Fire Administration Office is directly responsible
for:
- The administration of
the 1/4% Excise tax (McKinley
County Fire
Fund).
- The partial
administration of the 1/4% EMS
and Communication Tax as per agreement.
- Administration of the EMS
Grant Funds for all McKinley Departments and Entities within McKinley Co.
- Administration of the
Fire Protection Funds.
- Development, recruitment
and expansion of volunteer departments.
- Career crew
administration for McKinley
County.
- McKinley
County Emergency
Management and Emergency Preparedness.
- Multi Agency,
Multi-District Management during crisis. (ICS)
- Safety planning and
research for McKinley County.
- Maintenance and repair
of Fire, EMS and Sheriffs Office Fleet vehicles.
- Development of Grants
and other available money to maintain or enhance operations.
The Fire Administration Personnel
Administrative/Sworn-Field Officers:
- Bill Woolman, Chief of Fire Services, EMT-B/FF-I (FM1)
- Ken Hoffman, EMS Chief, NREMT-P/CC, FFI, EMS/Rescue I/C (FM2)
Administrative Personnel:
- Melissa Orphery,
Executive Assistant
- Verlynn Herrera,
Secretary
Fleet Shop:
- Shawn, Fire Apparatus
Technician.
Career Field Personnel:
Thoreau EMS
Winona Cometsevah, EMT-I, EMS Supervisor, CAPT
- Chris Sandoval, EMT/FF-I, LT.
·
Jessica
Creech, EMT-I, FFI
·
Jimmy Silva, EMT-B/
FF-II
·
Theresa Agnew EMT-I
(Probationary)
·
Ralph Martinez EMT-P/FF-I
·
Mike Morris EMT-B/FF
(Probationary)
·
Dylan Solmon EMT-I/FF (Probationary)
To Contact the McKinley County Fire Administration Services Office
Call: 505-863-3839 or 505-863-1437
Fax: 505-863-1439
Or write:
P.O. Box 5210 Gallup, NM 87305
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