By Naomi Hatch “The fire department is moving along, I think in a good way,” said Assistant Fire Chief Willie Nelson as he gave an update on Taylor-Snowflake Fire & Medical at the March 3, Taylor Town Council meeting and the March 8 Snowflake Town Council meeting. “The call volume continues to increase,” he said. “One member took a position with Heber which left an opening,” said Nelson, noting that it was a critical position because he was engine boss, and they must have an engine boss to go on wildland fires. The department hired Gerald Whipple as captain, and he is qualified as an engine boss. This gives TSFM three captains, and enable it to implement three shifts. “Right now we use a lot of outside help with part-time positions,” said Nelson, adding that though their help is appreciated, it’s hard to have part-time people going on three calls a day. Snowflake Vice Mayor Kerry Ballard asked what the ratio of volunteers between Snowflake and Taylor was. “We’re not sure where everybody fits,” said Nelson, noting that Snowflake mostly has volunteer firefighters, because many of them did not have EMS training. He explained that part of the problem is that volunteer firefighters have fulltime jobs elsewhere, many of them with other fire departments. Nelson said that currently they have four fulltime employees and there are four spots every day that they haven’t had the personnel to fill. One of the goals they want to accomplish is to increase coverage to have 24-hour shifts at both stations and increase fulltime employees “so we’re not so dependent on part-time help coming in,” said Nelson. He noted that they have two who will finish Northern Arizona Vocation Institute of Technology training this year. Snowflake Mayor Tom Poscharsky asked if that was a good resource, and Nelson responded, “We do have a good connection there.” He went on to explain that once students start the class, the department brings them in as red shirts. Red shirts cannot go inside the fire area, but they provide support, and once they graduate, they can start shifts with TSFM. “I think you’re doing a great job, and everything within the department seems to be a lot better and moving along,” said the mayor. Snowflake Councilman Terril Kay added that the chief and assistant chief have done a phenomenal job. “We appreciate your leadership,” said Kay, noting that they look outside the box constantly, and have many plans for success and plans to get them there. “We never want to cut funding; we want to grow and continually get better,” said Kay.