Warren County creates Department of Public Safety

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Warren County government recently approved the creation of a new department, the Department of Public Safety, which will be comprised of both the Warren County Fire Departments and Warren County Emergency Management.

This is a move that county officials say will help streamline processes and even potentially save the county some cash.

“This made the most sense. So we can be streamlined and our response to be able to take care of the community, this growing community, can happen in a more efficient way,” said Warren County Judge-Executive Doug Gorman.

Warren County Fiscal Court approved this measure, which has been in the talks for quite some time, according to Gorman.

Since the Warren County Fire Department was created, it has worked closely protecting Warren County with Emergency Management, making a move like this one natural in an effort to continue protecting the quickly growing county.

“They work hand in hand with many things. Many times there’s a fire Emergency Management is right there and vice versa. And so it made sense for us to have both of these under one umbrella,” Gorman said.

The new department will take over the usual jobs of the Warren County Fire Department and add the jobs of Warren County Emergency Management, such as upkeep on emergency infrastructure and coordinating with FEMA during disasters.

“So not only are they going to be doing all the fire department things that they’re doing, growing that fire department, working with our volunteer fire departments, but then also taking care of all the opportunities and all the things and requirements the emergency management has to do, from the storm shelters to the community outdoor warning sirens, the COWS, maintaining all of that, to all of our work with FEMA that we do on reimbursements and also the work on on disasters,” Gorman said.

The new department will also have a beneficial impact on county finances with the new streamlined process.

“One of the things that happens is by combining these departments, we’re able to be more efficient with the tax dollars and be able to not have overlapping services. We’ll have one or the other in that way, we can be more productive, but also have better efficiency with our tax dollars,” Gorman said.

Warren County Fire Coordinator Bill Rector will head this new department, which will officially began serving the community at the end of the month.