Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 29, 1993 TAG: 9304290231
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The vote was 4-1 with Councilman David Worrell dissenting.
The next day, city firemen Lee Simpkins, Doug Mitchell and Graham Wickline learned they would be out of a job as of Jan. 1. Another firefighter who is on disability will not be replaced.
Simpkins and Wickline had no comment Wednesday. Mitchell was unavailable.
Council's action will leave three firefighters plus Chief Calvin "Cabby" Whitt on the paid, full-time Fire Department staff next year. The city hopes to take up the slack by expanding the number of volunteer firefighters from 35 to 50.
Whitt said he had no say in the matter.
"It was a directive from the city," he said. "I didn't have any choice."
Mayor Tom Starnes said the Fire Department was "one area that we felt we could provide services with a reduction in personnel. I think the response time will be comparable to what it is now." he said. He added that the change would have no detrimental effect on property owners' fire insurance.
Starnes also said he believes there are enough paid people and volunteers to provide the 24-hour coverage the city wants. He blamed budget constraints for the layoffs, but said he was "not at liberty to say" whether the city administration was looking at similar cuts down the road in other departments.
Whitt said he didn't get official word of the layoffs until Tuesday, but that he had been hearing rumors for several weeks. He said the department will have to make do with volunteers, but the ones he has talked with so far have said no to the extra duty.
"The volunteers will have to want to do it," he said.
Right now, Whitt schedules two full-time firefighters per 24-hour shift. Starting next January, at least one of those will be either a volunteer or Whitt himself.
"I'm going to have to have volunteers willing to pull 24-hour shifts or 10-hour shifts or whatever," he said.
Martin "Jigger" Roberts, an assistant volunteer fire chief and the city's treasurer, predicted it would be difficult to staff the shifts with fewer full-time people."
Second Assistant Chief Alban Shumate said Wednesday he had not received any official notice of the changes. "I've only heard rumors," he said.
The city's volunteers normally meet every Monday. They are expected to issue a formal response after they meet.
Starnes said City Council looked at fire departments in surrounding areas before making the manpower cuts.
But Whitt said Radford is different from Christiansburg and Blacksburg. He said the city always has had ample staff to do maintenance and to take care of the trucks as well, and that the department will suffer with the changes.
"Some of those leaving are our key personnel. When you lose valuable people, it hurts," he said. "It's not always pleasant."
by CNB