Vicki Hyatt
The Mountaineer, Waynesville, N.C.
(TNS)
Aug. 14—CANTON — Canton leaders have approved an $85,000 budget amendment for an emergency repair on a fire truck engine.
The move should help maintain the town’s fire insurance rating, which affects the price property owners pay for their fire insurance.
“We have to have this done,” said Natalie Walker, the town’s finance officer who was conducting last week’s meeting in the absence of Town Manager List Stinnett.
Funding for the engine repair will come from the $4 million economic relief grant provided by the N.C. General Assembly to help over the economic shortfall from the mill closure. With this change, the town will now be using $1.43 million of the funding.
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers asked for reasonable assurances the truck would last for a while after the repair. Walker said she believed that would be the case.
Kevin Wheeler, Canton Fire Department chief, said the 2011 fire truck is one of three in the fleet and is needed to maintain the department’s fire rating.
The 2021 fire apparatus is the main engine, and a 2001 engine is still used, but is considered a reserve.
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$5.8M in Federal Funds Earmarked for New Fire Station
Over the past several months and years, Canton officials have been working behind the scenes with the federal government to obtain money for a new fire station, the Canton Fire Department said in a Facebook post recently.
Canton Fire Department’s current station has been flooded three times; it was flooded twice in 2004 and then again in 2021 with Tropical Storm Fred.
Mayor Smathers has been working with Senator Tillis and his team to aid in obtaining these funds. Members of the fire department received word recently that $5.8 million has been earmarked for a new station. The money has passed the U.S. Senate and heads to the House next. Getting CFD out of the flood zone has been a top priority.
Moving this station allows us to solely focus all of our efforts on saving residences and preforming rescues during a flood without having to worry about our own equipment.
