After years of donating their time to the community of Agate and
Elbert County as a whole, the volunteers of the Agate Fire
Department are being paid back. On March 25, the Elbert Board of
County Commissioners approved the application for a special
district allowing the volunteer fire department to become a fire
protection district.
As the Agate Fire Protection District, the department and fire
fighters will have access to more funding. Before, the department
was running on bake sales, fundraisers and a few grants. Now the
department will be able to apply for many more grants and gain
funding through the mill levy and taxes.
The district will cover 220,800 acres in Elbert County, which is
21 percent of the county. Because of the large coverage area, as
merely a volunteer department, providing fire protection and other
necessary needs to the county, was not adequate and would not be
adequate until a special district is formed, said Curtis Carlson
from Elbert County Community and Development services. The
application does comply with the Elbert County Master Plan and the
district will have the financial ability to discharge the debt
embedded every year, Carlson said.
Many representatives from the county came to the board meeting
in support of the application. Chief Dian Bowers from the Kiowa
Fire Protection District spoke on behave of the Elbert County Fire
Chiefs Association. She said in the past, the Agate Volunteer Fire
Department has been doing an excellent job serving not only their
citizens, but all the citizens in the county with very few
resources. She said the district formation would allow the
department the funding to provide the training and equipment needed
for proficient service to the county
“When Agate doesn’t have the resources they need during an
emergency, the responsibility falls on the other district,” she
said. “This can become a problem because the distance causes a time
delay. It takes a long time to get there.”
Elbert County Sheriff Bill Frangis, director of the office of
emergency management LaRiea Thompson and Elizabeth Fire Protection
Division Chief T.J. Steck were also at the board meeting in support
of the special district application.