4th Garfield County Fire Tax Extension Approval Will Support 12 Rural Fire Departments

Voters on Tuesday approved, for the fourth time, an extension of Garfield County's sales tax. It supports the county's 12 rural volunteer fire departments.

The proposition passed with support from 90.85 percent of voters.

Clarence Maly remembers when the tax was first passed in 1996. He's been part of the Garfield County Public Safety Association in the years since, which brings the county's departments together to address common needs, including the sales tax extensions. "We were the first one in the state to actually pass a tax like this to help the rural fire departments," he said.

Maly also said that Garfield County has become a model for other parts of the state. 

Equipping under-resourced areas of Oklahoma with tools to fight fire is also a priority for Trampas Tripp, the land management division director for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. "That is now becoming a statewide issue," Tripp said. "It should hit everybody right in their backyard on what they can do to become more fire-wise."

The commission organizes fighting fire with fire workshops, which are well-attended by rural volunteer firefighters and landowners.

Maly, who is also the assistant fire chief in Waukomis, said training is one of the areas of highest spending for most volunteer departments. "This was the game plan when we came up with the sales tax," he said. "We have the capabilities of saving lives and property now with the equipment we got."

The latest extension will last through the end of 2034.