ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 TAG: 9703260076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS THE ROANOKE TIMES
Roanoke County rescuers request $692,000 in new money for equipment, trucks and workers.
Roanoke County's fire chief is requesting five new paid emergency workers to staff a ladder truck that was unable to respond to more than half of its calls last year because of staffing shortages.
Fire & Rescue Chief Rick Burch told the Board of Supervisors during a budget discussion that his top priority is to add a five-person crew for the ladder truck that serves the Hollins area.
Last year, the truck was unable to respond to 219 of 349 calls where a ladder truck was requested because there were not enough people at the station to operate it, Burch said. Eight paid firefighters are stationed at Hollins, but with that staff stretched over 12-hour days, there often are only five on duty at a time. It takes five people to operate a fire pumper and ambulance, leaving no one for the ladder truck.
Burch noted that the Hollins station is the first to respond to an area that includes seven adult-care homes, 16 schools and day care centers, 21 businesses and 11 motels and apartments. Even for typical single-family homes where the 100-foot ladder may not be needed, Burch said, the ladder truck carries equipment needed to enter a burning building.
Roanoke County has 56 paid staff, with 42 distributed through 10 stations during daylight hours. Its fire and rescue budget this year is $3.9 million.
The ladder truck crew represents $170,200 out of $692,000 in new money being requested by the department. Burch also wants a new pumper truck for the Hollins station, plus two ambulances and two staff vehicles. The vehicles would cost nearly $490,000. He said two of the county's pumpers are more than 20 years old, and seven of its ambulances have been in use for more than a decade.
Burch said the $692,000 request was pared down from the county's volunteer fire and rescue chiefs requests to meet more than $2 million in needs, including 30 new staff positions.
Supervisors have committed $264,000 in new money to the fire and rescue department, but they made no commitment on the $692,000 request Tuesday.
Vinton Supervisor Harry Nickens questioned whether the ladder crew should be the top priority rather than replacement of safety equipment. The $692,000 includes $32,000 being requested for that purpose. Burch said volunteer fire chiefs from the 10 companies have agreed to each pay $3,000 from the budgets of their volunteer organizations so that $65,000 can be spent on new protective gear in the coming year.
The fire and rescue department also is asking for $571,000 in capital improvements for the 1997-98 budget year. Supervisor Chairman Bob Johnson said board members are committed to spending at least $330,000 of that to add sleeping quarters at the Hollins and Fort Lewis stations for volunteers on duty overnight.
About 50 career and volunteer emergency workers attended the budget meeting to show their support for the request.
"We feel like we've proposed an adequate budget for this year," said Woody Henderson, chairman of the volunteer fire chiefs. "This doesn't mean we don't need the 30 [new staff positions]."
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