Fire Department lighting project planned

By Randy Bell

Sometimes, it takes money to save money – and that’s what Clinton’s fire chief has in mind with a plan to upgrade the lighting at the City’s two oldest fire stations.

Jeff Blackledge told the Board of Aldermen at its December meeting that swapping out fluorescent bulbs for LED lights at Station 1 and Station 3 would cost about $4,400 but would save the fire department about $5,700 a year on its electric bill.

“Entergy’s paying eighty per cent of the cost up to $15,000 per account,” Blackledge said. “So, I think it’s a good thing.” The chief said he’ll be bringing the proposal to the Board for consideration.

Blackledge also told the aldermen that the fire department’s call volume was picking up at the end of 2024. Through November, a total of 3,110 calls had been answered, well over half of them EMS calls, with firefighters spending an average of forty-five minutes to an hour on each call. The department was averaging 9.31 calls per twenty-four-hour shift.

It was not reported at the time, but the chief noted that three Clinton firefighters who are members of a special response team were called in to help deal with the tragic collapse of a bridge near D’Lo back in October. Several workers were trapped in the rubble, and three died. Blackledge said, initially, they weren’t sure if their job would be to rescue victims or to recover bodies. As it turned out, they did both.

The chief said those firefighters have undergone specialized training, including “rope rescue, confined space rescue, collapsed structure rescue, trench collapse, anything that’s out of the ordinary.” He said CFD is always ready to play a role when help is needed in other areas. “We’ve committed to sending two people, and, if we can, we’ll send up to four people at one time.”