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DFD, Bettendorf fire start aid agreement

DFD, Bettendorf Fire start aid agreement
Posted on 10/08/2019
Davenport Fire Department shoulder patchDavenport and Bettendorf fire departments are now sending crews to structure fires in an overlapping geographic area of the two cities under an agreement approved earlier this year.

The mutual aid area is from Eastern Avenue in Davenport to Devils Glen Road in Bettendorf between Interstate 80 and the Mississippi River. DFD Chief Mike Carlsten said residents should see better response time now that more resources are available to that area.

Rather than wait for a request for mutual aid request, the departments will be dispatched at the same time in the case of a structure fire, Carlsten explained. The agreement is about a year in the making and approved by both city councils.

The agreement also calls for the departments to train together four times per year with each department splitting the hosting duties. Training will focus on apparatus that each department has on their fire rigs in order for firefighters to be familiar with where they are located on trucks and how they work.

The departments’ equipment may be similar but from a different manufacturer. Those differences may slow down firefighters’ use during a call so the training is to acquaint each department with what they may be required to use. One training session, used for firefighters in each city to get to know each other, has already been held.