Monday was historic for Polk County Fire Rescue as three new paid firefighters began to serve and provide the community protection during the day when volunteers aren’t always available.

Chief Michael Hanuscin said the first day on the job for new firefighters Wayne Dunn, David Grindstaff, and Jeff Groom went out on three calls in their opening days on the job. Hanuscin said these three are just the start of an expansion of ensuring that someone is available to get out to the scene when an emergency is called into 911.

“You’re going to be guaranteed that a truck is coming,” he said. “And they’re getting out there faster. They might respond to a location faster than a volunteer having to go get a truck.”

He was excited to have the trio join the majority volunteer-based department (those who do serve get a small stipend per call to help with expenses like gas) for daytime shifts. The full timers will also be able to perform other duties such as hydrant testing, equipment inspections and repairs, building pre-plans and much more while on duty. Hanuscin added they’ll lighten the workload of the department overall and be able to participate in community risk reduction.

The trio will now be available during daytime hours that started on Monday and will cover weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. out of the Fish Creek Fire Station, Station 6 off of Highway 278 between Cedartown and Rockmart. There won’t be a day without at least two firefighters on staff, the Chief noted.

“It’s important to note that a majority of the firefighters hired to fill these positions have been actively serving in our volunteer fire department for many years,” the Polk County Facebook page noted in a posting on Monday announcing the new firefighters. “We are looking forward to continuing the enhancement of our fire department. Thank you to all of our volunteer firefighters and the firefighters selected to serve in these roles!”

The recent hires of new firefighters are part of an ongoing effort to improve operations in Polk County over the past years in an effort to decrease the ISO (Insurance Service Organization) Rating for fire service in Polk, which in some places is low due to distance from fire stations and flow rate capacity on hydrants. ISO ratings are on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the “best” and 10 being “worst” in this case.

Those and other issues impact the ISO rating, which are evaluated at least every five years, which then impacts the cost to homeowners for insurance coverage on their residences and physical property, like barns or outbuildings.

Adding paid firefighters to the department is one step toward providing better fire coverage for the county and bringing that rate down over time. Readjusting station locations in the future might be another option that has been under review for at least a decade in Polk without much results.

County Commissioners earlier this month during their regular session approved of paying for new plans for a replacement station next door to the Esom Hill Fire Station, the first in a line of several stations which need repairs or replacement in the coming years.