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Goodhope Fire Department was chartered in October 1998. We are a membership(subscription) based department. At the present time we have 243 subscribers to our services. We have an ISO Rating of Class 9 with possibilities of Class 8 in the future.
Our Equipment:
- 1956 International Pumper 750/1000
- 1975 Dodge Mini-Pumper 250/300
- 1978 Dodge Brush Truck 150/380
- 1975 Chevrolet Tanker 1200Gal.
- 1986 Chevrolet Rescue Van
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Our Services Include:
- FIRE SUPPRESSION
- SEARCH & RESCUE
- EXTRICATION
- FARM RESCUE
- EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
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COMMUNICATION:
Goodhope Fire Department is dispatched through the Douglas County Sheriff's office. We are setup on a paging system on the same frequency as the City of Ava Fire Dept. Our emergency number is 683-1146. This number will ring in at the Sheriff's Dept. who will then page out the firefighters. This has been very effective for us. Not only is the emergency dispatched 24hours a day, but also the caller only has to talk to one person, as opposed to 15 on a "Fire Bar". Having our firefighters on a pager has enabled us to get good responses to all types of fires and emergency medical situations.
AUTOMATIC AIDE AGREEMENT:
Goodhope Fire Dept. has a legal Automatic Aide Agreement with the City of Ava Fire Dept. What this means is on a structure fire, regardless of the location, in our coverage area the City of Ava will automatically send pumpers and personnel to help. In turn, we do the same for them. This also allows us to claim their equipment which consists of 2 Class "A" pumpers, a mini-pumper and also a rescue van.
SHORT RANGE PLANS:
Within the next year, Goodhope Fire Dept. would like to be able to build a new mother station to be located at the junction of Highways 76 & "T". We would also like to update our protective equipment
LONG RANGE PLANS:
Within the next 5 years, we would like to be able to locate substations throughout our coverage area to have all our members within a 5 mile radius of a station. Substations will carry the same classification as the mother station. this means if the mother station is Class 9 rated, all the substations will be Class 9 rated. This should decrease insurance rates by about 30%. Our ultimate goal is to provide our rural communities with the best possible fire protection that we can. This will include purchasing good equipment and maintaining trained personnel.
SUMMARY:
In short, I believe that with hard work and community support we can achieve our goals for this department. We would appreciate any help that you could give in turn, we could help you by lowering your insurance rates if we could get a substation within 5 miles of your property. We are a Non-profit organization under Section 501 C(3). Any donations you might make will also be tax deductible. This is a win - win situation for you and for us. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your time and consideration. Should you have any questions or need any formal documents(charter, By-Laws, Mo Sales Tax, etc) Please contact me at (417) 683-4520(home) or (417) 683-4181(work). Again, thank you for your time.
Richard Mitchell- Fire Chief/President...Goodhope Fire Department
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rdmitch@getgoin.net