Cleveland Community Fire Department Annual Meeting 2021 and New Fire Station Info

Cleveland Community Volunteer Fire Department meets yearly, and today was a beautiful day for the annual meeting which was held in the big garage area housing the firetrucks with the doors open and warm breeze blowing. There were around twenty people present as the voting portion came to a close. 

Captain Ron Herion welcomed visitors to the station and gave an overview of the process and details on the new fire station. 

Board members voted in today included:

Brian Fero

Kenny Payne

Ryan Haglan

Jimmy Roberts

Board members serve for three years with four rotating off or up for reelection every year. There are not term limits, so if locals wish to vote for additional terms for a board member, that is okay. The board is made up of twelve members total.

Milestones for the Year at Cleveland Fire Dept.

Captain Brian Fero gave the yearly round up. All told, there were 538 calls for the past year. Rescue techs were able to take part in trainings, and a new truck was added. The new truck is actually "new to us" per Fero. The town was able to get a high quality truck from Locke fire department. Locke decided to sell the truck but wanted to keep it in the area, and Cleveland needed an additional truck. This was win/win and is the type of stewardship the fire department supports so that costs are lower but service is top notch.

Coming up, the department plans to add more information on the LED sign and also to offer some training for those interested in working with technology. 

 

A community member asked if a change in minimum wage would impact on our fire department. Currently, the starting salary is $11/hour. We now have one full time employee and two part-timers and also a part-time person for night shift. According to the board, a change in the minimum wage would have to be addressed as needed. Additional salary costs would likely come from the savings account which stands at around $279,000 according to Chief Greg Summit. Checking sits at approximately $84,000 and the payroll account is $71,000.

Danny Gabriel, who is the treasurer of the board, explained that the fire department has a third party audit once per year and that we are in solid shape financially.

One area of interest for the board is working on five, ten, and fifteen year goals for the fire department. Community members were invited to offer ideas for development. Fero noted that goals within the department and within the community could differ some, and that it's helpful to know what everyone is thinking. 

The big story for this year is that the new fire station was built and opened in April 2020 with occupancy in September of 2020. Chief Ryan Haglan was kind enough to offer a tour of the station so that readers can see how tax dollars have been spent. There will be a grand opening for the community, but that has been on hold due to Covid19.

New Fire Station on School Street, Cleveland

Cleveland had outgrown the small fire department that was on the corner of School Street and 70. Then, Cleveland Elementary School closed with the new elementary school built in deeper off Statesville Blvd. This left land and buildings available.

The fire department swapped out land in front of the new elementary school for the land where the new station was built. This benefited both fire services and school services. The school got the needed run off pond while the fire department got enough land to build a functional fire department. The old fire station was land locked and very small. 

The new building was actually a twenty year project with official plans started seven years back, and the new station is projected to serve the community for 100 years. The floor plan is based off Iredell County fire department plans. Iredell has recently added new fire stations so had up-to-date designs. It is economical to build off the plans rather than start from scratch. 

Features of the New Fire Department Building

Residents can see that the new fire department is a beautiful design and large enough to serve the needs of the community for years to come. The left side is the garage for the trucks with gear and storage. The right side has offices and space for a fully functional fire crew on site versus volunteer. It has been difficult to staff fire and rescue with volunteers in recent years, although Haglan noted that the town has seen an increase in younger residents working with the department. Having a new fire department building makes volunteering time more attractive but still only meets part of the needs of the community.

Offices are nice and there are a few of those as well as a room for meetings and for programs/training. Patch collections made by Chief Kenny Payne decorate the common meeting spaces and add eye appeal. 

 

Since some volunteers do not have access to computers or do not carry them, a room was set up for all employees including volunteers with computers for work. 

There is room for ten men or women to sleep at the fire station currently. Rooms are nice and functional with beds and desks. There are bathrooms including one that is handicapped accessible, a rec room with a screen for viewing, and an awesome kitchen. The weight room is coming along, but the department needs work-out machines. Those are expensive. Any donations in that area are tax deductible and would be much appreciated.  

Beside the garage area is a washing room for official gear which can't go in regular washing machines. Also, fire uniforms can't go in the dryer. For this reason, a drying rack was needed. David DeGraves built the drying rack for the uniforms. 

 David DeGraves built drying racks for the fire uniforms which can't go in a regular dryer.

In the storage area, there is also a compressor set up. The brakes on the fire trucks require air compression. You've probably heard brakes being compressed. This would usually take some time to get up to driving, but the compressors in house keep the brakes up and ready to go.  

An air compressor in the storage area allows truck brakes to be ready to go in an instant.

One thing you can't see (although you can see the hardware in the garage storage area) is a heating system for the floor of the garage. This keeps the trucks, gasoline etc. warm from below so that trucks do not have a long warm up time. During a fire, seconds count a lot.

Interesting Features at the Cleveland, NC Fire Department

If you approach the fire department from Highway 70, there is a long porch. Employees have added rockers on the porch. Haglan said that people call it the Cracker Barrel Porch. The set up does look a lot like the Salisbury CB, and it's a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the view. 

The side porch facing 70 does look and feel kind of like the Cracker Barrel porch.

 

Be sure to look at the concrete work outside and on the porch at the fire station. The stamped pattern looks like wood grain, although it is not wood.

Looking closely at the rails on the porch, the Maltese Cross was incorporated into the supports. The cross is an international symbol for fire fighters and their dedication to protect communities globally.

 The Maltese Cross was incorporated in the rail design off the side porch facing Statesville Blvd.

On some of the ledges at the station, you can see the local patch design by Jason Thomas. Fire fighters enjoy trading patches with others in the service field and also exchange service coins. One fun activity is putting out coins when going to dinner. The lowest ranking coin holder or someone without coins at all picks up the meal tab. 

 Cleveland fire department patch design by Jason Thomas is stamped in window ledges at the new station.

Around back, there is a station that might not be immediately recognized. There are pipes and tanks. This is where trucks go when they need to test out or clean out water. Instead of shooting the water out on the ground, this cycles it in tanks. The new system saves a lot of water. Some departments from other areas come in to use this green, conservation system. 

This system allows water to be circulated in large tanks so that the water is not wasted shooting it out on the ground. Other fire departments come to use the new technology in Cleveland.

Quilts to Come Soon

There are plans to add barn quilts on the end of the fire station toward the new EMS building and new library. This is a project with West Rowan Farm, Home, & Garden from Mt. Ulla. It is the old Steele Feed and Seed store. The landmark country store had added barn quilts at their store for the largest barn quilt in the nation. The one at the fire department will be even larger and will add a lot of eye appeal on School Street. 

Looking Down the Road

Inside the front door of the new Cleveland, North Carolina fire station, you can see an old fire hose roller (cart) and 1940s fire hydrants. Chief Payne saw the hose cart across the county and bought and restored it. The fire hydrants will serve as time capsules. Some time in the future, our children, grand children, and greats can open up the capsules and learn more about the things we are doing today to make our town better for all. 

Old fire hydrants serve as time capsules for future generations. The bricks were saved from the original Cleveland fire station on the corner of School St. and Statesville Blvd.