By By SHERRY DIGMON
Advance Staff Writer
The Atmore City Council is beefing up the city's fire department with paid volunteers, a practice that was in place about 20 years but was since discontinued.
At Monday's meeting, the council voted to approve a proposal by AFD Chief Gerry McGhee to pay volunteers for drill, responding to fire calls and overnight duty.
McGhee said he had checked with surrounding fire departments and based his proposal on that information.
The pay structure is as follows:
Drill, bi-monthly, $15 for each drill attended
Fire, on-call, $20 for each fire attended
Overnight duty, divided evenly among volunteers for the month, $40 for each night's stay
According to McGhee's proposal, each volunteer will be issued a set of complete turn-out gear, to include helmet with shield, coat, trousers, boots, nomex hood, and gloves. A pager with a charger also will be issued to each volunteer.
The department currently has 11 volunteers. McGhee said he would like to have one on overnight duty each night to allow for additional manpower at a fire scene.
The council voted unanimously to accept McGhee's proposal.