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staffing up for better response stafford fire and rescue positions in budget

March 26, 2007 12:35 am

BY MEGHANN COTTER

A White Oak fire engine backed into its station after taking four volunteers to handle a gas leak in Heather Hills.

The company that responded was one of eight volunteer engines, a heavy rescue and ladder truck on duty at 8 p.m. last Thursday. Five paid ambulance crews also are dispersed throughout the county, ready to respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

With a house fire, a breathing emergency, a diabetic attack and an attempted suicide between 4:30 and 7:45 p.m., it had been a busy evening and plenty of rescue workers were still hanging around after answering the calls.

But the night got quiet quickly. Basketball games on TV wound down, officer meetings ended and sleep beckoned the volunteers back to their homes.

By 11:30 p.m., many station parking lots were empty. The buildings were dark and fire and rescue vehicles were tucked in for the night.

Just the five paid ambulance crews, four volunteer engine units and one staffed rescue station were left to cover the entire county. That's one heavy rescue vehicle and one ladder truck short to handle a single house fire.

It was the same the night before and dropped to just three volunteer engine units through the day.

"This is not something that happens on a sporadic basis. It's a daily basis," Stafford Fire and Rescue Chief Rob Brown told supervisors last week.

Only half of all emergency calls in Stafford were answered under the goal of eight minutes last year. A person without oxygen faces brain damage after six minutes, and fire spreads beyond the original building after seven.

Valuable time is lost when stations aren't staffed, Brown said.

Volunteers, who sometimes wait at home for a call, are paged when needed. Sometimes they'll rush to the station, get an apparatus and respond, he said, "but there are times they don't, as well."

Some recent calls in Stafford have had to be answered by Quantico or neighboring localities, Brown said.

Today's call volume and volunteer participation levels would require 219 additional paid fire and rescue workers, spread over three shifts, to guarantee service around the clock, Brown said.

The county's proposed 2008 budget makes a down payment on that need. It funds 30 new fire and rescue positions for half a year.

Those employees are slated to open the under-construction Berea station as a 24-hour hub for southern Stafford.

A study done four years ago recommended the Berea station and similar ones in north and central Stafford, said County Administrator Steve Crosby. The plan would put paid people in central locations to answer calls whenever volunteers aren't available.

But supervisors are now at odds over that plan. It contributes to a potential 10-cent real-estate tax increase in this year's budget. And there's concern about providing equal coverage throughout the county.

Some insist on meeting the demand with urgent filling of staffing gaps. Others trudge hesitantly into the historically volunteer realm, saying they aren't sure the county can afford it.

Emergency volunteers save local governments millions of dollars each year. The more who sign up, get trained and answer calls for free, the fewer paid people are necessary.

The county has beefed up efforts to keep volunteers, hiring a new recruitment officer and exploring funding for a retirement system. But increased commuting times, family obligations and training requirements keep many people away.

And those who do come can't necessarily serve when or as much as needed.

"Everyone wants to be a volunteer between 6 and 10 p.m.," Brown said, pointing out the remaining overnight and day shifts that still have to be covered. "Even if they give one 24-hour shift a week, start doing the math and that takes 70 to 80 volunteers to effectively staff that station."

Just two of Stafford's all-volunteer stations--Stafford and Falmouth fire--are staffed 90 percent of the time. Other volunteer units staff between 1 percent and 60 percent of the time, depending on the apparatus.

"It's not that the volunteers that are working aren't doing a great job," said Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer. "We just don't have enough of them."

The 30 positions funded by ambulance fees last year will staff two engines around the clock in May, joining the five 24-hour paid ambulances. Several volunteer chiefs indicated a need for more paid workers in their budget requests for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

But almost all of the 43 percent increase in fire and rescue funding for next year is devoted to personnel for Berea.

Supervisor Paul Milde and others say requested positions should be spread out over a number of years, dispersed more fairly throughout the county and coupled with efforts to grow the volunteer system.

"We've been moving too fast on hiring paid fire and rescue employees," Milde said. " We can't afford it.

"It's economics versus risk. Those are always the tough decisions to make."

Volunteers will always be welcome at Berea and any other county station, Brown said. He said he would be happy to hire fewer paid people if new volunteers show up.

"Either way, the problem is going to take resources," Brown said. "Personally, I don't care if it's career resources or volunteer resources, as long as we have resources."

That's essentially the problem driving some board members to push for rapid hiring.

"We'll have brand-new buildings with less-than-adequate response times for x number of calls," said Supervisor George Schwartz. "That seems self-defeating."

Dudenhefer held a meeting recently with residents who were concerned about fire and rescue issues. They said the changing nature of the county causes a need to change emergency operations.

"We really appreciate the efforts of every one of the volunteers," said Wendy Surman of Rock Hill. "But it's unfair to them to expect them to do the job of a suburban metropolitan area, with the resources of a rural area."