Linn County fire and ambulance reports for February 21

MOUND CITY – The Linn County commissioners heard updates and statistics from the fire department and ambulance service on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Linn County Fire Chief Randy Hegwald reported that there had been 13 incidents the past week bringing the yearly total to 49. He said that five of the calls were over the weekend. There were three calls for grass fires; two for brush or brush-and-grass fire mixture; one fire, other; one building fire; one fire in motor home, camper or recreational vehicle; one motor vehicle accident with injuries; one motor vehicle accident without injuries; one lock-out; one dispatched and cancelled en route; and one authorized controlled burning.

Hegwald said that he had two people to fill firefighter positions. One was Donnie Whitcraft for the Mound City station, making him the sixth fire fighter of the 15 positions approved for that station. The other firefighter was Cody Kiser for the Pleasanton station, making that station have 15 out of the 22 approved positions.

Since both Whitcraft and Kiser are county employees, they will start immediately. There will be no probationary period for them. The commissioners approved the hiring of the two firefighters.

Virgil Swanson, American Medical Response (AMR), gave the report for the ambulance service. He said there were 27 calls for the past week with 15 of them being transported.

The breakdown of calls was La Cygne four calls, four transports; Linn Valley five calls, one transport; Mound City seven calls, four transports; Parker five calls with two transports; and Pleasanton six calls with four transports.

Swanson reported that one of the new full-time employees has finished their training time. He also reported that one paramedic had to go part-time. Linn County AMR is still short one full-time paramedic.