Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Fire Chiefs Kyle Sommers & David Northcutt share community updates

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Talk Line: Fire Chiefs Kyle Sommers & David Northcutt share community updates · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
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  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty wix N.
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  Speaker 1: It's eight thirty and it's now time for talk line.
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  Speaker 1: I'm joined in the booth once again by my friends
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  Speaker 1: from the Sterling and Rock Falls Fire Departments, Chief David
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  Speaker 1: Northcutt and Chief cous Summers.
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  Speaker 2: Guys, how are you good?
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for having us, Always a pleasure today. We wanted
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  Speaker 1: to start off with some very big news, something that
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  Speaker 1: I've been excited to see, especially during my time as
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  Speaker 1: reporter when we were reporting on this and it didn't
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  Speaker 1: happen a couple of times. And now some great news
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  Speaker 1: on the training tower.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, so we've been funded by the federal government,
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  Speaker 3: so we're expecting to get eight hundred and twenty five
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  Speaker 3: thousand dollars through the Community Project Fund. We worked on
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  Speaker 3: that with Congressman Eric Sorenson's office and he was just
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  Speaker 3: in Rock Falls a little over a week ago to
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  Speaker 3: present us with the ceremonial check and we're just in
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  Speaker 3: the process of working with the federal government now to
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  Speaker 3: make everything happen.
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  Speaker 1: That is absolutely awesome. How long have you guys been
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  Speaker 1: trying to make this happen.
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  Speaker 3: So we've been working on this for just over four
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  Speaker 3: years now, most of which was planning, deciding what it
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  Speaker 3: was that we wanted to do, what kind of needs
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  Speaker 3: we had, how exactly we wanted the facility to look,
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  Speaker 3: what the training tower was going to look like, how
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  Speaker 3: it was going.
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  Speaker 2: To be constructed.
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  Speaker 3: So there was at least four years of planning going
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  Speaker 3: into this, and that's why we're at the point that
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  Speaker 3: we're at now.
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  Speaker 1: And a few speed bumps along the way, right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we had this funding approved back in twenty twenty four,
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  Speaker 3: and then we lost that funding early in twenty twenty five.
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  Speaker 3: Like I've said in the past, I think Congressman Sorenson's
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  Speaker 3: office because his staff didn't give up on us. They
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  Speaker 3: kept the process going, they kept working with us, and
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  Speaker 3: they got it into this budget year and it got approved.
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  Speaker 2: So we should be expecting the money soon.
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  Speaker 1: And so for folks who aren't familiar with this, what
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  Speaker 1: exactly is this going to kind of look like in
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  Speaker 1: terms of the training it'll be able to provide?
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  Speaker 3: And absolutely so this is going to be a fully
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  Speaker 3: fundctional training tower. We can use theatrical smoke or we
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  Speaker 3: can actually conduct a live burns in it too, and
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  Speaker 3: this gives us the ability to recreate real life scenarios
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  Speaker 3: on a regular basis, rather than us trying to use
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  Speaker 3: imagination or waiting for like an acquired structure when houses
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  Speaker 3: are being torn down. This gives us that ability to
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  Speaker 3: do training every single day anytime that we want. And
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  Speaker 3: as far as looks, it's going to look like a
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  Speaker 3: large building with a tower on the side of it,
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  Speaker 3: it's going to look very nice. It's gonna be well built,
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  Speaker 3: and we expect it to last a long time into
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  Speaker 3: the future too.
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  Speaker 1: So if you see a flaming tower in the near future,
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  Speaker 1: it's not a medieval castle siege. It's you guys training
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  Speaker 1: and getting ready.
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  Speaker 2: That's right.
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  Speaker 3: We try to be pretty proactive and let the public
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  Speaker 3: know when we are going to be out doing training,
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  Speaker 3: just so they kind of know what to expect.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 4: Another thing that, sorry, no go for.
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  Speaker 5: Another thing to add I'm sure chief would go into
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  Speaker 5: it a little bit later. Is it's going to be
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  Speaker 5: for technical rescue and things like that as well, not
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  Speaker 5: just for the burn side.
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  Speaker 4: It's going to be an all inclusive.
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  Speaker 5: Facility, which facility We've got bigger plans than that I'll
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  Speaker 5: let Chief keep going.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, than I do.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, like Chief north Cut said, this is this is
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  Speaker 3: going to be able to do a lot of different training.
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  Speaker 3: It's going to be a great resource, not just for
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  Speaker 3: rock Falls and Stirling, but the whole region.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be a great resource.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah, long term, we want this to grow into
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  Speaker 3: something even bigger than what we've already started. And again
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  Speaker 3: that kind of goes back to that planning that we've done,
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  Speaker 3: and we just keep continuing to plan to how do
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  Speaker 3: we want to improve it?
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  Speaker 2: Where do we want to go from here?
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  Speaker 1: And now I know before we went on air, you
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  Speaker 1: were saying there are any official timeline set yet?
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  Speaker 2: Correct, that's correct.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're we're hoping to have the actual money soon.
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  Speaker 3: We have some meetings with some government officials to go through,
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  Speaker 3: you know, all the typical paperwork that comes with receiving
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  Speaker 3: federal money.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got that process as well.
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  Speaker 3: But tentatively we're hoping to start sometime this year for
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  Speaker 3: construct actual construction.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, sir, Okay, has anybody kind of and it is
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  Speaker 1: to about how long they think it might perfect world obviously.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question.
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  Speaker 3: Pretty much as soon as we sign the contract with
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  Speaker 3: the facility manufacturer. It's roughly a year build time.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, Well, hopefully that build time will have
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  Speaker 1: better luck than most road projects. I know everybody gets
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  Speaker 1: upset with construction usually has a few hiccups folks, But thankfully,
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  Speaker 1: I think this will probably go a lot smoother than
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  Speaker 1: city streets.
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  Speaker 2: So yep, we're hoping so too.
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  Speaker 5: And like you've said, the planning process, everything has been planning.
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  Speaker 5: This isn't something that's been rushed into. So the whole
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  Speaker 5: complex that we're gonna we hope to end up with,
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  Speaker 5: the classroom later on and things like that.
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  Speaker 4: Everything is being planned out.
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  Speaker 5: We're not just gonna put something together and then go oh,
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  Speaker 5: I wish we would have thought about that and that
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  Speaker 5: type of thing. We're doing this in phases. We're doing
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  Speaker 5: it in stages, planning out everything as we go.
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  Speaker 1: Do we have anything nearby like this in the Sog
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  Speaker 1: Valley or firefighters they have to travel kind of a
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  Speaker 1: distance and be put out and be more out on
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  Speaker 1: time to be able to use a facility similar to
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  Speaker 1: what you're doing.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, usually they have to travel for something like this.
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  Speaker 3: We don't have anything immedia in the sock Valley. There's
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  Speaker 3: some places relatively close within driving distance that we can
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  Speaker 3: send people, but like I said, this is going to
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  Speaker 3: be a huge asset to this whole region to have
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  Speaker 3: something like this so close.
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  Speaker 5: For the Sterling Rock Falls Fire departments. Champagne is someplace
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  Speaker 5: that we use a lot. Academy wise, we use Rockford
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  Speaker 5: Fire Academy most of the time. So using those facilities,
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  Speaker 5: you have the travel time back and forth, the wear
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  Speaker 5: and tear on the vehicles going back and forth, and
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  Speaker 5: then like going to Champagne, then you have the room
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  Speaker 5: and board issue, and then of course meals and things
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  Speaker 5: like that, and the cost of the classes themselves. So
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  Speaker 5: the goal is, like Chief said earlier, to have this
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  Speaker 5: set up to where we can do them here, have
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  Speaker 5: other departments in the area region coming and use the
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  Speaker 5: facility with us, But hopefully it'll knock a lot of
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  Speaker 5: costs down for us, and we'd be able to do
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  Speaker 5: it with the shifts on duty and still be available
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  Speaker 5: to serve the community we're paid to serve.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean that's that's really important, right because
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  Speaker 1: if if your guys are having to travel out, you
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  Speaker 1: know far enough where they've got to have room and
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  Speaker 1: board to stay to be able to train if there's
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  Speaker 1: a big enough call, you know, when you're needing all
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  Speaker 1: hands on deck and the'se got You know, you've got
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  Speaker 1: a number of your guys that are already that far
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  Speaker 1: out when you wish you had them. This keeps them
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  Speaker 1: right here at home and able to respond with the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the crew.
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  Speaker 2: Yep.
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  Speaker 5: Absolutely, no matter how good the training is that we
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  Speaker 5: send them to, we can only send so money because
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  Speaker 5: we have to keep crews available to serve our communities. So,
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  Speaker 5: like you said, having it here, we'd be able to
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  Speaker 5: train more people locally at the same time and not
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  Speaker 5: have to go. You know, we'll send a couple today
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  Speaker 5: and then a year from now send a couple more.
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  Speaker 4: Type of thing. We can get a lot more people
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  Speaker 4: involved all at once.
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  Speaker 2: That's fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: And Kyle, you had you had mentioned hoping this grows.
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  Speaker 1: What would what would you guys like to see you know, this,
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  Speaker 1: you know, gets built. Obviously it's one set at a time. Sure,
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  Speaker 1: what when you say grow, what would you like to
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  Speaker 1: see it grow into?
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  Speaker 3: So what we're talking about right now is the actual
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  Speaker 3: training tower itself. Excuse me, that's where we actually conduct
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  Speaker 3: those hands on drills. Eventually, we would like to have
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  Speaker 3: some classroom facilities there too, and like Chief Northcut talked
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  Speaker 3: about some of these larger classes, we'd actually like to
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  Speaker 3: host those here. Bring more people to the area, train
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  Speaker 3: with us, we get to know people better, get better networking.
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  Speaker 3: So that's kind of our ultimate goal is to have
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  Speaker 3: essentially a one stop training facility where you could host
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  Speaker 3: any kind of training that you want.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe in the in the future again perfect world, see
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  Speaker 1: an academy in our area instead of sending our guys
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  Speaker 1: to Rockford.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, possibly in the in the future, depending on how
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  Speaker 3: this grows and depending on how our staffing looks and everything,
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  Speaker 3: that is something that we could have as an option.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, we've briefly spoke with sock Filey Community College about
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  Speaker 5: bringing back the associates.
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  Speaker 4: Degree program for fire science.
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  Speaker 5: But again planning, hoping, you know, if everything falls into place,
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  Speaker 5: that's one of the things that we'd like to see
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  Speaker 5: come out of this as well.
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  Speaker 1: I'd love to see that and if this can be
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  Speaker 1: made to work, partnering with them over at SAW College
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  Speaker 1: would be the ideal way to do it. And they're
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  Speaker 1: always trying to find ways to bring new programs in
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  Speaker 1: so I would absolutely love to see that you had
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  Speaker 1: mentioned staff and kywhich brings me to you guys are
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  Speaker 1: looking for a firefighter over at Sterling, David, right.
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  Speaker 4: We are.
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  Speaker 5: We're advertising right now for testing. We're going to be
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  Speaker 5: pulling the applications on March sixth, a mandatory orientation on
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  Speaker 5: March fourteenth, and then after that there'll be oral interviews
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  Speaker 5: roughly scheduled for the twenty fourth twenty fifth of March,
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  Speaker 5: depending on how that goes, and then after that the
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  Speaker 5: top person will get offered a position, and then I'll
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  Speaker 5: go through the rest of the process, the background, polygraph cycle,
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  Speaker 5: logical exam, physical exam. But we are hiring one for
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  Speaker 5: sure off of this list immediately.
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  Speaker 1: So for anybody listening they want to apply, what's the
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  Speaker 1: best way to do that.
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  Speaker 5: They can go to the city's website. We do have
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  Speaker 5: a link on our Facebook page as well, but we
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  Speaker 5: use the National Testing Network. So if they go to
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  Speaker 5: the NTN, everything's explained through that. They do the written
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  Speaker 5: test and an assessment through them, and then they have
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  Speaker 5: to do a physical agility it's called seapat and again
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  Speaker 5: through the National Testing Network they can tell them where
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  Speaker 5: to go and all that stuff for that, but they
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  Speaker 5: have to have the seapat at the time of offer
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  Speaker 5: for the job. But the written test has to be
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  Speaker 5: done before we pull the applications on March sixth.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, there you go hop online. If you're looking for that,
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  Speaker 1: you're hearing this, that's the way to go and do it. Guys,
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  Speaker 1: anything else you want to share this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think just with the change of seasons, it'd
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  Speaker 3: be a good time to remind everybody. You know, the
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  Speaker 3: weather's going to start getting nice, people are going to
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  Speaker 3: get outside, they're going to want to start doing yard
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  Speaker 3: cleanup things like that. We always try to warn people,
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  Speaker 3: you know, be very cautious if you're doing any kind
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  Speaker 3: of a controlled burn, especially out in the country. Some
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  Speaker 3: cities don't allow it. I would say, if you're you're
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  Speaker 3: wanting to do any kind of a controlled burn, contact
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  Speaker 3: your local fire department, figure out what the burn ordinance
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  Speaker 3: is and they can give you a better direction on that.
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  Speaker 3: But definitely use caution. It's going to be a dry
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  Speaker 3: season like it typically is, and we don't want any
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  Speaker 3: unnecessary fires.
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  Speaker 5: I'll add to that chief This afternoon and especially tomorrow,
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  Speaker 5: it's supposed to be in the sixties tomorrow.
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  Speaker 4: We are very dry right now.
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  Speaker 5: So if anybody is going to burn in areas that
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  Speaker 5: they are legally allowed to burn, they really need to
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  Speaker 5: be cautious like Chief said, and be mindful of what's
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  Speaker 5: going on and always attend to don't light it and
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  Speaker 5: then walk away from it. That's normally when things get
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  Speaker 5: out of.
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  Speaker 2: Hand yep, and always check the weather beforehand.
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  Speaker 3: Usually the Weather Service will issue red flag warnings if
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  Speaker 3: it's a bad idea to burn those days. If you
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  Speaker 3: see a red flag warning, just postpone your burn until
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  Speaker 3: another day where the conditions are a little bit more favorable.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, keep your eye on the fire, don't go, don't
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  Speaker 1: go take a bathroom break, take care of that beforehand
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  Speaker 1: or put somebody in charge of it, don't leave it.
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  Speaker 1: So anything else you want.
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  Speaker 3: To share, guys, no, just thank you again for having us.
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  Speaker 3: We're always happy to be here and share any kind
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  Speaker 3: of news that we have with you. No, no shameless
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: plug this time, no shameless plug. We did win the
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: best Holiday light display, so thank you for everyone that
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: voted for that. We'll try to improve on it even
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: more this year. So thank you, and won the chili
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  Speaker 3: pipoff well, that's a given. We're always going to win
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: the chili pip.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: I forgot about the chili you guys.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't want to get too carried away. We've
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  Speaker 3: already got a three peet between us and the police.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: I think we're talking a minimum eight pet to quote
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Saturday Night Live. Yeah, I don't see us losing any
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: time soon.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I absolutely love that I could eat chili dang near
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: every day of the week, honestly, so I was.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Interested that I didn't get to it.
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  Speaker 1: We had a bit of a snaffho at home, so
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  Speaker 1: that's awesome. Well, guys, thank you very much, not just
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  Speaker 1: for sharing the information, but for everything you do for
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  Speaker 1: our communities. You know, we wouldn't be safe without you,
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  Speaker 1: so thank you.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Thank you