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County fire warden describes model to finance operations through deployments and training
Summary
Chad, Albany County fire warden, told commissioners the county’s fire program generates revenue by sponsoring personnel deployments and billing for equipment use on out-of-district incidents; he asked to keep a larger share of administrative fees to cover personnel who process deployments.
Chad, the county fire warden, told Albany County commissioners that his office has built a revenue model that covers a growing share of the department’s operating costs by sponsoring personnel and equipment for wildfire incidents outside the county.
He said the county charges a 5% administrative fee on deployments that it sponsors and historically split the revenue with the general fund (80%/20%). Chad proposed changing the split to 60% general fund / 40% retained by County Fire to cover payroll and administrative processing for those deployments, which he said require significant documentation and invoicing work.
Chad explained that revenue from deployments flows into a truck-maintenance account that pays for training, equipment maintenance, fuel and other operating costs. He said last year the program generated in the neighborhood of $100,000 into that truck account and that those funds have paid for training (including heavy-equipment/dozer training) and local zone support. Chad added that deploying county or partner equipment (road and bridge, EMA) creates billable rental or service revenue, but that maintenance costs are real and can be substantial.
He walked commissioners through how the state’s emergency suppression account works, the county’s annual premium to participate and the value of aggressive initial attack using aircraft to reduce the total suppression cost. Chad said the county’s statutory duty under Wyoming statute 35-9-402 includes coordination of fire suppression and prevention, which informs the revenue and training strategy.
Chad asked the commission to authorize the proposed revenue-split change and to allow continued cross-agency training and equipment deployments. Commissioners asked clarifying questions; Chad said the change was intended to let County Fire retain more funds to pay personnel who process deployment billing and to sustain training and equipment maintenance. There was no recorded formal vote during the presentation; Chad said he would follow up with more detailed budget figures.
