The new Fort Scott Fire Department fire truck, a 2019 Pierce Saber, sits in No.1 Station at 1604 S. National, ready for service.
A new truck and equipment has arrived and one more truck is on the way to add to the Fort Scott Fire Department’s arsenal for fire protection in the community.
The FSFD received a new 2019 Pierce Saber fire truck in December 2019.
“It will be our main attack truck,” FSFD Captain Jacob May said. “It came to us in December, we put it into service the first of the year, after training.”
At about the same time as receiving the truck, the department received air packs through a grant. Air packs are worn each time a firefighter enters a structure fire, to facilitate breathing, May said.
“The air packs were replaced with the award of an Assistance to Firefighters Grant,” FSFD Chief Dave Bruner said.
Fort Scott Fire Chief Dave Bruner. Submitted photo.
With the new truck they have a thermal imaging camera that aides searching inside structures that are on fire, which could help locate people, May said.
“I would also like to add that we were also fortunate to be able to replace our extrication tools with a donation by the Mercy Health Foundation,” Chief Bruner said.
“We have been training on (the new truck) a bunch,” May said. “It takes a lot of training to catch up on new stuff.”
“We are very fortunate,” May said. “We’ve been working with antiquated equipment for a long time.”
The truck is a 1000 gallon pumper, that can hold six firefighters.
The department has three pumper trucks, a ladder truck and a rescue truck, May said. Also housed is an ambulance if needed.
“The ambulance is staffed by our department as a third out unit for Bourbon County EMS,” Bruner said.
The fire department has two stations in Fort Scott, No. 1 at 1604 National Avenue and No. 2 at 23 S. Franklin on the city’s east side.
The firefighters serve 24 hours on duty, then are off 48 hours.
“We run city-wide full coverage,” May said. “Our rescue truck will run county-wide. We do occasionally assist the county fire departments as requested.”
“Including myself and Deputy Chief Michael Miles we have 14 fulltime staff and three reserve staff,” Bruner said.
New Aerial Platform Truck Coming
At the Feb. 18 Fort Scott City Commission meeting, a new aerial platform truck was approved for the fire department as well, Bruner said.
The city applied for a Community Development Block Grant and was notified in late January that they had been approved for the grant.
The City of Fort Scott recently accepted a $665,303 grant award to help purchase the new fire truck, Rachel Pruitt, Fort Scott’s Economic Development Director, said in a press release.
State and local officials hold the representative check for the Community Development Block Grant. Submitted photo.
“The grant awarded is for a 100’ aerial platform truck,” Bruner said. “This apparatus will replace our existing 1993 75’ aerial truck. By replacing this apparatus, it will not only maintain our ISO status but it also allows our department to continue to provide service to the community as well as safe and reliable equipment for our firefighters to be able to perform their duties.”
10:30 Executive Session, Consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship (Lynne Oharah, Jeff Fischer, Nick Ruhl and Justin Meeks)
Mark Warren, Uniontown Ruritan member, opens the door of the proposed medical clinic just south of the football field.
A community collaboration of Uniontown Ruritan, Girard Hospital, USD 235 School District, Bourbon County Commission, and the City of Uniontown have been working to get a health clinic in the small town in western Bourbon County.
It’s been a long time coming.
Uniontown Mayor Larry Jurgensen had tried to get a medical clinic here several years ago, Mark Warren said. Warren is a Ruritan Governor and member of Uniontown Ruritan.
Mark Warren, Uniontown Ruritan Member and initiator of the most recent medical clinic idea sits at a table in the proposed clinic on Feb. 18, during an interview with fortscott.biz..
“Mercy Hospital had no interest at that point,” Warren said.
Even before Mercy Hospital Fort Scott closed in Dec. 2018, Warren had been thinking about initiating a medical clinic in Uniontown, but when the hospital closed, “I thought this is bad, no hospital, nor a clinic,” he said.
Someone mentioned to Warren that Uniontown resident Holly Koch is the Chief Financial Officer of Girard Hospital and about 1.5 years ago he visited with Koch about the issue. Koch said she would visit with the CEO Ruth Duling and a meeting was set up.
Girard Hospital is 31 miles from Uniontown.
Uniontown is 19 miles from Fort Scott, 25 miles from Iola, both sites of the nearest health care clinics. The clinic would serve western Bourbon County, eastern Allen County, northeastern Neosho County and northern Crawford County rural residents, Warren said.
“They came and we presented some statistics,” Warren said. Since then there have been approximately eight meetings with various Girard Hospital staff and local entities to talk through the idea.
Locally, Warren, Jurgensen, U235 Superintendent Brett Howard, Uniontown Council President Jess Ervin, Uniontown City Clerk who is also U235 Board of Education Member Sally Johnson, Bourbon County Economic Director Jody Hoenor and Bourbon County Commissioner Lynne Oharah have been in the collaboration.
Warren, Jurgensen and Jurgensen’s wife, Judy, along with Bourbon County Commissioner Lynne Oharah, recently went before the Girard Hospital board to give a history of how the idea for a clinic came about.
The board was favorable to the idea, Warren said.
The proposed building for the medical clinic is south of the Uniontown High School Football Field.
On Feb. 17, members of the collaborative group met at the proposed site on the campus of Uniontown High School, just south of the football field. Originally, the superintendents office, of late the building has housed the office of the school’s kitchen manager.
“They came, had the blueprints,” Warren said.
The hospital engineering staff will work on the design reconfigurement of the building into a medical clinic, Ruth Duling, Girard Hospital CEO, said.
Next will be getting materials, estimating the costs and raising funds to make the building into a medical clinic, Warren said.
There is no timeline for opening the clinic, Duling said.
Local volunteers will be helping with the labor of the building reconfiguration.
As soon as everything is in place, the hospital will begin the certification process to become a rural health clinic, Duling said.
Staff at the clinic will include a nurse practitioner and one other staff member, serving as both nurse and receptionist, Duling said.
Initially the clinic will be open 2-3 days a week.
“You don’t know until you do it,” if it will be feasible, Duling said. “It will be dependent on people to use the clinic and make it viable.”
One positive for the community:
“There are a lot of passionate people that want to see this come to fruition,” Duling said.
by Adelay Martin, UHS Student Sports Media Reporter
The Uniontown Eagles faced the Pleasanton Blu-Jays on February 14 for our Homecoming basketball game. Both Varsity teams won, and so did both JV teams.
The Varsity girls beat the Blu-Jays 55 to 35. Scoring for this game was very even, all the Varsity starters and subs scoring at least one basket. Danielle Howard lead in points, scoring 23 over the course of the game. Howard also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 7 steals. Karleigh Schoenberger had 8 points and 4 rebounds. Gwenyth Fry and Breleigh Harris each scored 6 points and had 3 steals; Fry also had 5 rebounds. Sammie Hampton had 5 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals. Coach Miller said, “It was another good night for the Lady Eagles. Glad to see some different girls step up tonight and impact the game. Our next contest will be Monday, February 17, when we face Southern Coffey County at home.” The game on the 17th will be our last home game for the season.
The boys’ Varsity also won against Pleasanton, with a score of 60 to 46. Jake Harvey scored 21 points and had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Clay Sutterby had 15 points and 6 rebounds, as well as 2 assists. Hunter Schaaf had 7 rebounds and 11 points. Luke George had 3 steals, 12 rebounds, and 10 points. “The 1st half was a little rough,” said Coach Hays. “We missed some layups and free throws, but our defense kept us in the game. We came out at half and got into a rhythm. I thought we did a much better job of sharing the ball, which opened up some good shots. I’m proud of boys and their resiliency.”
TFI Family Services of Kansas which has an office in Fort Scott at 710 W. 8th, Suite 203, provides child welfare services to Bourbon County.
There are several current needs of families involved with TFI, Crystal Walker, permanency support worker, said.
“We are looking for good quality foster homes,” Walker said. “Also full-time drivers to transfer kids to court, visitation with families, etc. and furniture for those who may have just found a house and don’t have furniture, some need clothing. It’s on a case by case basis.”
To contact Walker, phone 620-371-8011 or email cwalker@tfifamily.org.
TFI partners with the State of Kansas to provide an array of services, Taylor Forrest, marketing specialist, said.
Besides foster care, adoption services are offered.
This includes recruitment, training and support of the homes.
Family preservation is there “If a family that needs extra help with parenting skills, we work with them to get them on the right track,” Forrest said.
There is a new program called Grow Nurturing Families that is offered, which is a parent-child interaction therapy, Forrest said.
It also offers the Family First Prevention Services Act services, Forrest said.
The following is from an interview with Forrest:
What does TFI stand for, the initials?
The Family Initiative
What services do you provide the community?
TFI Family Services provides an array of services to the community including foster and kinship care, family preservation, domestic and international adoption, counseling support and education, TIPS-MAPP training and visitation and exchange centers.
Where located?
TFI Family Services has locations across the entire State of Kansas, but our CEO office is in Topeka, KS.
What are the needs currently?
The biggest need TFI has is for more foster parents. In Kansas, there are more than 7,600 children placed into out of home care. There are approximately 2,000 foster homes in Kansas. This disparity means that children from your community are being placed outside of their home community, or in shelters. Foster parents are one of our essential partners in providing quality services to children and families.
Additionally, families we serve have many needs, to learn more about how you can support kids, visit www.tfikidsfund.org.
Contact information?
If you are interested in making a difference in the life of a child by becoming a foster parent, please call us at 833-7FOSTER or visiting us online at www.tfifamily.org.
Statistics on number of children in foster care placement and those needing placement in Bourbon County?
All individuals interested in becoming foster parents are required to take TIPS-MAPP training. TFI walks alongside and supports all our foster parents so they can best care for the children in their homes. To learn more about foster parent requirements, visit www.tfifamily.org/start-here/.
TFI Fort Scott Employees, from left to right: Stormi Rosete, Permanency Support Worker,; Crystal Walker, Permanency Support Worker; Jordan Flauding, Case Manager; Taya Drake, Case Manager; and Jordan Johnson, Case Manager. Submitted photo.
