Dennis Floyd joined the Dent County Fire District in 1992 as a recent high school graduate with the class of 1990. Floyd was born and raised in Salem. He has a heart for public service having been a dispatcher with Salem Police Department for over 31 years.
Named assistant fire chief in the late 1990s, he has been interim chief several times in his 32-year stint with the fire district, filling in when chiefs would leave or retire. He serves as interim chief now following the resignation of chief Brad Nash.
Floyd is at the firehouse about two to three days per week, when he is not at the police station. The current volunteer crew includes 17. Officers rotate on-call times each weekend to ensure calls are covered. Captains Derek Thomas, Derrick Marfitt and Earl Jarvis, and lieutenants Chris Robbins, Nathan Kinsey, and Ben Pursifull, assist on calls.
Ideal volunteer numbers are between 25-30, but the department has enough gear to outfit about 25. To become a volunteer there is a light background check, an interview with officers, and then officers recommend an applicant to the board for approval.
Training takes place twice per month on the first and third Thursdays. In-depth classes for certification take about one year, and Floyd said the district is in the process of setting up those classes locally.
Current updates include fire truck number changes, from three digits to four. These updates are to be in line with FEMA requirements.
The fleet of 11 trucks include some that need repair or service. A 2020 Chevrolet Silverado previously served as a personnel truck but now serves the community as a rescue and first responder vehicle. A donation from a community member allowed a new DECKED slide out system.
“This system allows firefighters to pull the slide out to access our Hurst extrication tools and other necessary equipment,” according to a recent Facebook post.
The district takes about 300 calls per year. Incidents range from fires, medical, utilities, alarms, HazMat and other miscellaneous calls. A software named ResponseMaster organizes reports by incident and type. The software was installed and began with December 2023 reports.
Donations, grants and tax money provide funds for necessary improvements and gear for firefighters. According to Floyd, there has been no major tax increase for the district since the 1980s and equipment costs continue to rise every year. Data available shows an actual tax of 0.2306 in 2013 for an assessed valuation of $93,953,704; and .2377 in 2022 for an assessed valuation of $115,105,636.
Floyd said turnout gear has a shelf life of about 10 years and replacement costs are about $5,000 per person. DCPD was awarded a grant from ARPA funds in 2023 which allowed the department to outfit some firefighters with full sets of gear to be in compliance with NFPA standards. SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) packs have a 20-year shelf life and most are approaching that time in the near future. Cost to replace the equipment is about $13,000 for each firefighter.
The fire station has been in its current home since purchasing the former car dealership in 2004. It first opened as a Chevy dealership in 1969, according to previous reports.
A new roof, parking lot, doors and handicapped accessible restrooms were all part of a $1.2 million renovation project. The work was funded by a $350,000 Community Development Block Grant and a low-interest loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
