Miami County commissioners, meeting Oct. 1, approved a set of purchases and reallocations requested by Mark Whalen, Miami County rural fire coordinator, aimed at adjusting Paola Fire District equipment and boosting countywide firefighter air-supply and water-rescue capacity.

Whalen told commissioners the Paola Fire District decided not to replace an approved replacement generator or buy a turbo-draft eductor and instead wants to move county-owned extrication tools from a city rescue truck onto Rural Engine 5 and buy storage and stabilization equipment to secure and carry the tools. "This would allow more flexibility in vehicle accidents," Whalen said, explaining that extrications increasingly involve fire and that having extrication tools available on an engine could speed response.

The county approved the Paola reallocation by motion, 4-0. Commissioners moved to allow Whalen to purchase a circular storage device sized to fit a compartment (estimated $3,200 if fixed; about $4,400 if installed on a slide-out) and a set of collapsible vehicle struts (estimated $4,600). Whalen estimated the total project cost at about $9,000 and said a roughly $1,000 overage could be covered from Paola's existing 2025 equipment budget. He noted purchases would follow county policy requiring three vendor quotes.

Separately, commissioners approved the purchase of 10 additional SCBA bottles for county air packs. Whalen described the bottles as compatible with county equipment and said the vendor Feld Fire quoted $12,263.20 plus shipping for the 10 bottles. He summarized inventory across local stations as reported in the meeting: Paola had 16 air packs and 14 spare bottles; other stations' purchases from prior years produced countywide totals Whalen described as 55 self-contained breathing apparatus and 57 spare bottles. Whalen noted that carbon-fiber bottles being purchased have a 15-year service life, compared with about 20 years for steel bottles, and said the purchase would be funded from the capital budget with any overage covered by the stations' yearly budgets.

The commission approved the SCBA purchase by a 4-0 vote.

Whalen also updated commissioners on the county water-rescue team and sought approval to outfit trainees so the team can expand. He said the Osawatomie station's rescue team was down to two members but that interest exists across the county: about 10 at Osawatomie, four at Fontana, 10 at Lewisburg and five at Paola. He reported two Paola firefighters are already fully trained through their Johnson County employer and four at Lewisburg have training through their Johnson County jobs. Whalen asked permission to request quotes to outfit interested firefighters at an estimated $2,000–$3,000 per person and said KU Fire Service planned to offer a 16-hour certification class at no cost next spring.

Whalen said roughly $20,000 remained in the current water-rescue budget and asked to use those funds to outfit six firefighters this year; he described a multi-year plan to reach about 20 trained team members, with additional gear purchases in 2026 after certification. Commissioners moved and approved the equipment allocation request, 4-0.

Discussion and votes were recorded during the meeting while the commission was performing fire-board duties; no public comments were received on these items. The meeting record shows the motions passed unanimously on each purchase and allocation request.

The commission approved these items as part of the Miami County Fire Board's parallel 2025 budget process. Staff will obtain the required vendor quotes and proceed with procurement under county policy.