Voters in the sprawling Boone County Fire Protection District have overwhelmingly approved a $6-million no tax increase bond issue.
Passage required a four-sevenths majority. The vote in support was 3,904 in favor and 781 against, well over the 57 percent required for passage. Passage will provide funding that includes $2-million to purchase fire apparatus. Fire district assistant chief Gale Blomenkamp tells 939 the Eagle that they plan to add two highway safety trucks with attenuators:
“So these attenuators is what you see highway traffic safety crews using. They’re used to block traffic, they’re used to absorb impact should somebody hit them from the rear,” Blomenkamp says.
Blomenkamp says the district now uses two fire trucks to respond to crashes on the highway. They use an engine and a tanker. You’ll recall that then-District assistant chief Bryant Gladney was killed in a horrific 2021 crash on Interstate 70, when his vehicle was hit from behind by a tractor trailer.
The bond issue will also provide $3.5-million for firefighter equipment like self-contained breathing apparatus and tri band radios. Assistant chief Blomenkamp tells 939 the Eagle that it’s needed:
“Our radios are aged. Radios are very expensive nowadays. And we’re looking at purchasing about 130 or 140 radios to replace some of our older ones that we’ve got,” he says.
Passage also means about $400,000 in funding for the district to purchase commercial personal protective gear washers and dryers at all fire stations.
Click here to see the final election results from the Boone County clerk’s office.
