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Walker/Catoosa fire agreement signedIn addition to the GEMA aid agreement, Walker County recently agreed to a deal with Catoosa County. The agreement says that fire stations in the north part of Walker County will provide their services and suppression for fires in Catoosa County, and that they will provide at least one truck to all commercial fires in the south part of Catoosa. Catoosa will provide similar assistance for fires in the northern end of Walker County. Also, the departments will hold joint training sessions at least every quarter.
Walker County Commissioner Bebe Heiskell renewed an aid agreement with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency that will enable every county in Georgia that has also signed the agreement to aid Walker County in the event of a disaster. Similarly, Walker emergency personnel will be able to help out wherever GEMA is called to provide aid.
“We can go anywhere help is needed with the agreement,” Heiskell said. “We provided aid during the fire in Okefenokee, and our emergency workers went to Katrina, too.”
Georgia offers the deal to every county in the state, Heiskell said. The statewide opportunity to help one another was something Walker County values highly.
“Really, it’s a neighborly thing,” said Heiskell. “It’s important to help out.”
Walker has benefited from the aid agreement in the past. In the aftermath of the tornado that struck North Georgia in April 2011, both Walker and Catoosa counties received aid in the form of emergency personnel, food and water from across the state.
Heiskell said Walker County has a full disaster plan that they drill routinely to ensure that every official knows what they have to do in case of an emergency.
“We try to prepare for emergencies as much as we can,” she said.