By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Hot and windy conditions made for a busy day for firefighters and other first responders around Barton County on July 4. Dena Popp, the county's 9-1-1 director, shared some of her agency's figures with commissioners at Wednesday's meeting.
Barton County Communications handled 43 fire calls in the county on July 4 alone, and three more on Sunday, July 3. Popp estimated most of those were in rural areas. Communications received 171 9-1-1 calls on July 4, and 367 more calls on administrative lines. Those 538 calls were a marked increase from the 481 calls received a year earlier.
"Great Bend got overwhelmed," Popp said. "They had mutual aid from Ellinwood and, I believe Albert took a couple of their calls. I know Hoisington took, I believe, 12 of Great Bend's calls because they were so overwhelmed."
Popp said it was a joint effort and thanked the many from various departments for getting the job done.
"We thank all those fire departments for assisting Great Bend," she said. "I thank my staff for the massive call load they had. It was busy but to be expected for the Fourth of July."
Sheriff Brian Bellendir was also in attendance at Wednesday's meeting. He fielded a question from Commissioner Barb Esfeld about agencies working together.
"We prioritize what comes out," he said. "That comes with experience with my people. You have to figure out which one is the most dangerous and respond to that."
Bellendir reported that is always the standard with the sheriff's office, which routinely works with other law enforcement agencies inside and outside of the county.
"They get some major incident in Pawnee County, we just go," he said. "Same way if we have something serious here, all of a sudden there are Pawnee County deputies showing up. We have a very good working relationship with all the law enforcement agencies in the county, plus the surrounding counties."
Both Popp and Bellendir praised the county for the purchase of the 800 megahertz radio system that now gives most agencies in Barton County state-wide range by using various county and state-owned towers around Kansas.
"The 800 system is a phenomenal system," Bellendir said. "It used to be, if you're lucky, you could talk to the northern part of Barton County on low-band when I first started. Now, I get guys who transport prisoners. They'll go to Leavenworth and they'll call on the radio and it sounds like they're a block away."