Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Fire Department gets new turn-out gear

Members of the Gurdon Volunteer Fire Department now have 16 new turn-out gears, thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Horace Cabe Foundation.

Gurdon Fire Chief Robert Burns said the grant came through in February and he began shopping around to make the most of the money.

"We were able to get each man a helmet, boots and the entire suit we needed for $1,500 a turn-out gear, so we had a little money left over to spend on other fire equipment as we need it," Burns said.

He said the gear was purchased from Casco in Benton "and compared to other places we checked they had real good prices."

The turn-out suit includes pants, a jacket, gloves and a hood.

Burns said the existing turn-out gears were 15 years old.

"The manufacturer recommends replacing firefighter turn-out gear every three or four years, if they are used every day," Burns said.

"We dont use our gear nearly that much, but after 15 years of service our gear was well overdue to replace."

The crew will use their new gear at the next Gurdon fire.

As of Monday, July 24, the group responded to a county fire that has been smoldering up around the railroad track near Interstate 30 and Sticky Road (Highway 182).

"We spent a little time on that again this week. In this kind of dry weather, smoldering can flare up," Burns said.

Gurdon firefighters helped the Forest Service, Okolona and Antoine to put out a timber fire encompassing 300 to 500 acres the week before. Burns said that is the land currently under observation for any hot spots.

"It was out. We just want to make sure it stays out," he said.

"The people need to know our burn ban is still in effect. In Gurdon, we had one lady try and burn trash in her back yard, but she put it out when we reminded her about the ban."

Burns said he and his crew would like to thank the Horace Cabe Foundation for buying the new uniforms.