Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992 TAG: 9202280325
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FIRE STATION STARTS SERVICE MONDAY
Roanoke's new fire station in the fast-growing U.S. 460 east corridor will begin service next week.Response times in the area will drop from eight minutes to four minutes or less, city officials said.
The new facility on Mecca Street off Orange Avenue, to be known as Station 14, will serve a rapidly growing commercial and industrial area that includes two major industrial parks - Statesman Industrial Park and the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology.
The station, which cost $736,544, will be staffed with a four-person fire company assigned to three shifts (12 employees). A 1,500-gallon pumper truck will be housed there. The station will be put into service Monday at 7:50 a.m.
Beginning July 1, Station 14's crews will provide basic life-support service until emergency medical crews arrive on rescue calls. The staff will have received training for this by July.
Staff and equipment for the new station will be shifted from downtown's Station 1.
"During these difficult economic times we wanted to find a way to open this station without any additional personnel costs to the city," said City Manager Bob Herbert. "After exploring several options, the Fire Department was able to identify a way to do just that without impacting service in other areas of the city."
Station 1 will be left with a ladder truck and a five-person fire company on each shift. Overall, 15 firefighters and one district chief will continue to be assigned to the downtown station.
Fire Chief Rawleigh Quarles said the shift of firefighters and equipment won't hurt response times downtown.
"On any fire alarm in the downtown area, we have equipment from Station 1 as well as several stations near downtown responding to the call," Quarles said. "We will be able to continue to respond to those calls with a full complement of equipment in a manner well below our average city response time."
The Roanoke Firefighters Association disagrees with the fire chief. Union leaders have said they fear the personnel shift will hurt downtown fire protection.