What was once known as East Polk Fire and Rescue, now has a new name, new fire chief and a renewed focus to provide quality service to the people of the Copper Basin area.
Now known as the Copper Basin Fire and Rescue, a new fire chief, Martin Senterfitt, has set out to improve the fire department’s capabilities.
Senterfitt is a second generation firefighter from Jacksonville, Florida. There, he retired from being the Director of Fire Chief at Jacksonville Fire and Rescue. In total, Senterfitt has been in firefighting for 38 years.
Aside from fighting fires, Senterfitt also received his Master’s Degree in Public Administration.
Starting as a volunteer firefighter, Senterfitt stated, “I’ve worked, pretty much, most of the positions within fire departments and have been promoted through all the ranks.”
The differences between the Jacksonville fire department and the Copper Basin fire department are significant. Senterfitt said, “When I was the chief there (Jacksonville), I had a budget of 210 million (dollars) a year and over 1,300 employees...Copper Basin’s fire department only gets about $80,000 to run five fire stations.”
Senterfitt wants to urge Polk County and surrounding area residents to volunteer at the Copper Basin fire department to help the community. He said, “Polk County only has volunteers, so we desperately need people whether they have any experience or not...it’s all about service back to the community.”
Senterfitt expressed that the fire department also has a large part in rescue. He continued, “Rescue, especially for us, is a key factor...hikers get lost in the mountains, people get hurt on the Ocoee, and we have to pull them out of the river...swift water rescue and all that is what we do also.”
Anyone who would like to volunteer to help support Copper Basin Fire and Rescue can do so by going to their meetings that occur the first Wednesday of every month at the City Hall in Ducktown at 7 p.m.
From there, volunteers will be voted in, and the fire department will be responsible for training each volunteer.