Gwinnett County Fire Signs Mutual Aid Agreement With Hall County

Gwinnett County officials said last month they approved an automatic aid agreement for fire and emergency services with Hall County, which also allows the two departments to train together.

“This formalizes a long-standing verbal agreement to share equipment and resources across county borders, and it will help reduce response times and provide adequate coverage along the county line during times of greatest need,” said Gwinnett Fire Chief Bill Myers.

This is the same type of agreement that the City of Loganville has with Walton County and other surrounding jurisdictions, but not with Gwinnett County, which is part of the reason for the ongoing dispute between the city and the county.

“Gwinnett comes whether we need them or not,” said City Manager Bill Jones. “With Walton County, if we need them we give them a call and they come and visa versa, but Gwinnett County comes anyway.”

Jones said it is on that basis that the county maintains it needs to levy the tax on city residents, one of the main sticking points in the ongoing dispute between the city and the county. Loganville has it’s own fire department with three fire stations, one in the Gwinnett County side of the city. Between a quarter and a third of the city is in Gwinnett County.

During last year’s court testimony over the service delivery agreement dispute between the county and the cities, Loganville Fire Chief Danny Roberts testified that the city has similar mutual aid agreements with the city of Bethlehem and Barrow County and no bill is sent by either parties for the service. At that time, Myers testified that the county responds to fires in Loganville because Loganville does not have the correct equipment required, namely EMS with advanced life support. The EMS equipment in Loganville had a basic life support rating. With no fire department of it's own, the City of Grayson fully utilizes the services of Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services. 

The dispute remains unresolved and the cities and county are still awaiting a ruling from the judge following last summer's court action. In the meantime, officials from Loganville are hoping to meet with new Gwinnett County Chairman Charlotte Nash later this month.

Gwinnett County officials also announced receipt of a $25,000 grant to maintain or replace equipment carried on the fire department’s search and Rescue truck using during building collapses, confined space- rescues and high-angle rope rescues. The money comes from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency through the federal Homeland Security Grant Program. The truck, based at Station 24 on Mall of Georgia Boulevard, is available for local, regional and statewide emergency response, such as the recent Buford tornado and the parking deck collapse in downtown Atlanta.