At the request of Minden Fire Chief Kip Mourad, his volunteer firefighters will continue receiving $19 from the City of Minden each time they are called to a scene.
“The current volunteer pay is $19,” he said. “I appreciate the vote to keep it like it is.”
Members of the Minden City Council unanimously agreed to keep the pay.
Mourad “hit the highlights” of his annual report for city council members Monday during the final meeting of 2017.
“Total fires was 214 with 47 drills, which is a total 261 responses,” Mourad said. “Total nonemergency runs were 90.”
Examples of nonemergency runs include – but are not limited to – approval of leaf or trash burning, small gasoline spill, alarm malfunction, natural gas smell, carbon monoxide detector activation, elevator incidents or body removal.
Firefighters responded to 29 total rescue calls – 27 were motor vehicle accidents, 9 of which were inside the city limits and 18 outside.
The department responded to 1 water rescue calls during the year.
The department provided mutual aid 23 times for fires in 2017, offering support to Minden Fire District 10, Dixie Inn, Dubberly, Doyline, Bienville and Sibley Fire Departments.
In training, Mourad’s volunteers racked up 687.79 hours; while his 15 paid firefighters earned 4,659.19 hours.
Fire prevention is another important program undertaken by the department each year.
Mourad told council members the fire department saw 1,525 children through the year as part of the program.