Five candidates are vying for 3 seats on the Fowler Rural Fire Protection District board. An election will be held this Tuesday, May 5, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Fowler Fire Department, 215 7th Street.

Mike Cannon has lived his entire life in the Fowler area except four years away at college and two in the military. He raises cattle on the family ranch north of town and has two children who graduated from Fowler High School.

“I feel very fortunate to live in a community with such dedicated people. Our volunteers give a tremendous amount of their time providing first response medical care and fire protection for our citizens. As a board member I feel we need to provide these volunteers with the safest and most modern equipment and the best facilities possible.”

Cannon adds, “We must do all of this without putting more of a burden on the taxpayers.”

Cannon believes some of the more important challenges facing the fire district are communications, mutual aid with neighboring departments, continued training and keeping equipment that is up to date and safe.

In the future Cannon would like to expand the district to include areas where service is currently provided but tax is not collected and he would like to explore ways to increase the retirement for those who have volunteered for 20 years.

Rex Hagerman has lived in the Fowler community and raised his family here for the last 23 years. He has worked for the Veteran’s Administration for 11 years and is currently the manager of the VA Pueblo Clinic Radiology department.

“My father was a fireman and then chief in Lamar for the first 20 plus years of my life,” states Hagerman. He added that his entire family was involved in all aspects of the fire department, both good and bad.

“I have many friends and family involved with [this] fire department. My intention is to ensure that the department has the equipment and technology to protect our firemen as they protect our community.”

Hagerman adds, “I offer my family, mechanical and medical background to do my best to maintain the fine department that we now have as well as keep our equipment up to date and our volunteers safe.”

Jack Hobby has been a volunteer with the fire department for 10 years and feels that, if elected, he could provide the board with valuable insight from the department. “I would be able to act as a voice for the volunteers,” he says.

Hobby believes two of the challenges faced by the department are securing and maintaining up-to-date equipment and mutual aid agreements with neighboring districts.  Hobby says of his colleagues, “We have an outstanding group willing to volunteer their time to the community.”

Scott Jensen has been on the Fowler Rural Fire Protection District board and served as secretary since 1990.

Jensen says Fowler has a good volunteer department which he attributes to the community and the volunteers. “Serving on the board is one way I can give back to the community,” he adds.

“As board members our number one priority should be to provide the volunteers with the best equipment we can. The second priority is to be supportive of our volunteers providing them with appropriate training and continuing education.”

Ray Smith was born and raised north of Fowler. He graduated from Fowler High School and went on to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree and then a Master’s before teaching in Colorado Springs for 27 years.

Smith has served on the Rural Fire Protection District Board for seven years and during that time the department has added one fire truck and one brush truck.

“My philosophy is to keep our department in the best equipment we can while staying within our budget,” says Smith.

“We do have a good fire department, a very good one,” he adds saying he has received numerous compliments on the Fowler Fire Department from all over the region.

The Rural Fire Protection District includes the town of Fowler as well as outlying rural areas in Pueblo, Otero and Crowley Counties. Registered voters and/or registered property owners within the Fire District boundaries are eligible to vote for members to serve on the board.

This elected, five-member board is in charge of allocating property tax funds which are used to purchase necessary ambulance and fire equipment.
Each board member serves a four-year term with elections taking place every two years. Members with terms ending this year are Mike Cannon, Scott Jensen and Ray Smith.  Alvin Rein and Larry Mason remain for two more years.