Our Chief Brad Speer

Welcome to the website of the Clarksburg Volunteer Fire Department. Here at Clarksburg Fire we have been making many improvements over the last few years. You will notice by looking at our website we have expanded to two stations and upgraded most of our equipment. These changes to the department have been covered by grants from various sources. We are also very lucky to live in such a generous community that have contributed greatly to these improvements as well. I would like to thank everyone for your generous efforts to continue making our department one of the best in the area. I would also like to thank the many organizations that donate their time and money to the department year after year, your efforts help keep us moving forward and improving the services we provide. We would be happy to attend one of your meetings and give you an update on the department or any other specifics you would like.

We have had our web and Facebook pages active for some time now. As many of you can see we have completely upgraded our web site with the generous help of Steve Hodgson and his company Street Smart Inc. out of Westport. We try to add information that will help our area be safe and to update you on the fund raising and community activities throughout the year. We would like to know if there is anything else we can add to assist the people of our area. Please let me know if there is something you would like to see added. You can find our Facebook page as a link on the web page or by searching on Clarksburg Volunteer Fire, be careful because Clarksburg, West Virginia will show up if you don’t add the word volunteer.

The department makes over 150 runs of various types each year. This is done by 25 to 35 firefighters on the roster at any one time. We are always looking for people to serve on the department and you can find an application link on this web page or ask any fireman about joining the department. Becoming a volunteer fireman does come with requirements in time and training. To be firefighter requires 72 to 350 hours of training, to become a basic EMT requires another 350 hours or more additional training. This shows the dedication and time that the current firemen have spent.

The department continues to offer Knox Box service to anyone who wishes to add them to your business or homes in our area. Knox has added a lower cost residence version of their lock boxes. If you go to the web site http://www.knoxbox and look at the options available to you. Their customer support has been great, but if you have any trouble please contact us and we will help work through your issues. Once this is installed the fire department and only the fire department can access the box and open the lock to access the building without doing any major damage.

If you need weather updates you can receive them directly to your cell phone as text messages. There are two ways to sign up for this service. You can go to nixle.com and enter the address that is in the are you want updates for. The second is from your cell phone you can text DECATURCO to 888777 and you will receive any weather items related to Decatur County as a text.

As we continue to work on the ISO rating for our fire department I would like to let everyone know that we have had another break in the process. We had a representative from ISO visit the department and ISO has raised all property that is within 5 road miles of either of our stations a rating of 8B. They have rated the rest of the area we cover to a 9 rating. This is a big milestones to getting our official rating reduced for all of us to save more money on our insurance. I would remind you to check with your insurance companies to see how they issue their policies. Some use the rating, but others have other criteria they use, and there could be other things the department could do to help your specific situation.

As you have heard me say before, I would like to thank the firefighters that put forth the effort to show up at all the events the department is involved in. This includes training, meetings, public events for stand by, and on runs. These people give of their time to help us all. I would also like to thank their families for their sacrifice as well. I know from personal experience that the families put up with a lot throughout the year of missed meals, family events, school events and personal time to serve and the families deserve much of the thanks for their sacrifices as well. God bless all of you.

Brad Speer
Fire Chief
Clarksburg Volunteer Fire Department