THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200252
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 177 lines
FIRE ENGINE NO. 9 is in the shop. The steering sticks on left turns and the clutch is shot.
But, after all, it's been making runs for a quarter of a century.
So has Fire Engine 11, which wouldn't start three times on Christmas Eve.
One of Churchland's engines is older than both of them. It wouldn't start for a medical run to Churchland Junior High School.
``The starter had to be hit with a hammer and then it would start,'' Lloyd Beazley, a 20-year firefighter, told City Council at the Jan. 10 public hearing on the budget.
Beazley, as president of the Firefighters Local 539 of the International Association of Firefighters, was there to plead with council not to stray from a commitment to replace one aging fire vehicle each year.
After residents asked for a high school stadium and a Little League asked for a field, the council looked at sacrificing other projects, including a new $325,000 fire truck.
``Public safety should be our No. 1 priority,'' Beazley told council members.
``I know it's hard to sit up there and make decisions between ballfields and fire apparatus and schools or police officers,'' he said. ``But . . . the child was at (Churchland Middle School) and he needed help and he had a delayed response in us getting there.''
Firefighters are not happy when extra minutes tick away, whether it's due to a stubborn starter, a steering problem or old brakes that translate to a slower speed for the cumbersome vehicles.
Neither are the people waiting for them.
``We feel the citizens need every opportunity, every chance at life,'' Beazley said later. ``We've got to be able to get there.''
Fire Chief Donald Newberry agrees that the department needs a replacement cycle they can depend on rather than having things reach a point ``where (we) have to make a lot of big purchases at one time.''
``Financially, I feel like we're kind of stressed,'' he said.
But, he added, he believes City Hall will do the best it can for all the departments.
``I don't want this to sound like I don't want the new equipment because I certainly do, and I feel like I justified it when I requested it,'' Newberry said. But, ``my job is to provide fire protection. (City Hall's) job is to satisfy all the needs of all the citizens.''
But Beazley isn't sure that citizens know all the facts.
About half the city's fire apparatus has reached the 25-year mark.
``When a piece of apparatus is 20 years old it should be put in reserve,'' he said, citing National Fire Protection Association standards.
While the city has added a fire engine in the last two budgets, straying from the replacement program doesn't take long to become a problem.
``The fire service has really changed, and if you don't keep up with it, it gets way behind,'' he said.
Beazley made clear that he is not ``bashing'' the fire department, only the equipment.
``Seven pieces need to be replaced right now,'' he said. ``By the time we replace them, some . . . that are in pretty good shape (now) will be falling apart.''
Only three fire engines were purchased in the 1980s when the economy played havoc with the city's needs.
Out of the fire department's 16 fire engines and ladder trucks, including two reserve pieces, 11 were purchased in the 1960s and 1970s.
``Churchland has the most worn out apparatus we have,'' Beazley said.
That's partly because older equipment was transferred to the Churchland area because it has fewer calls than other areas of the city.
The distance between the station on Cedar Lane and newer neighborhoods in Churchland is another thing that bothers firefighters.
The current station was built before Churchland was annexed in 1968.
On April 1, the city finally will break ground on a new station at the corner of Rivershore Road and Cedar Lane, a project that has suffered years of delay.
``Chief (Odell) Benton, that was his famous wish - to get that fire station completed before he retired,'' Beazley said. ``He never did see it done.''
While that station will be closer to the newer neighborhoods and also will have the benefit of the Western Freeway, it will increase the distance to neighborhoods such as Pinehurst and Green Acres.
Firefighters hope the city will renovate the old station and reassign an engine company there.
Beazley believes the project is in long-range plans, but worries that it will suffer the same lack of commitment when competing needs squeeze the city's budget.
Meanwhile, the last fire engine to be ordered from last year's budget will go to Churchland, he said.
That should help some. The older equipment, he said, is harder to maneuver, adding to the problem of getting to far reaching neighborhoods.
Beazley choked up after telling council members that it took 10 minutes to get from the Churchland Station on Cedar Lane to a December fire in Windy Pines, a newer neighborhood on the northern end of Churchland.
Jason Wallbank, an 11-year-old boy, was seriously burned in the fire that started in his bedroom.
``He's still over at Norfolk Sentara Hospital,'' Beazley said. ``And we did the best we could do . . . It's bad on us, and it's bad on the citizens.
``And I don't know what you want me to carry back to our men and women,'' he said. ``We've gone and we've stretched as far as we can stretch. And to cut this apparatus out is sending the signal to us that we've got to wait longer and longer.
``I depend my life and those citizens depend their life on this equipment,'' he said. ``And I think it's an injustice.''
In an interview, Beazley talked about the child injured in the Churchland fire and how such things affect firefighters.
He credited the boy's father, Ashley Wallbank, with saving the boy by going into the burning room for him.
When firefighters arrived, the family had taken the child across the street to a neighbor's house. The neighbor was a nurse.
``The whole experience was traumatic to the medics involved and to the firefighters who helped,'' he said.
``It's our job as firefighters to be prepared the best we can be for an emergency,'' he said. ``It's up to our City Council and city manager to see that we have the necessary tools to perform our duties.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
[color cover photo, no photo credit]
Lloyd Beazley, president of the firefighters union in Portsmouth]
This station on Cedar Lane was built before Churchland was annexed
in 1968. On April 1, the city will break ground on a station at the
corner of Rivershore Road and Cedar Lane, a project that has
suffered years of delay.
Graphic
Staff map by John Earle
[location of Portsmouth fire stations]
Fire stations and their equipment
Below is a look at each fire station, the age of its fire
vehicles, and the area that it primarily serves. It does not include
two reserve engines, a 1965 and 1968. There also is a breakdown by
station of the runs made by firefighters in 1994. Percentages are
given for the two categories of calls, medical and full-response
calls, which require more than one piece of fire apparatus.
Percentages for other types of runs are not included.
Station No. 1: 361 Effingham St. - Engine 1 (1984), Engine 2
(1984), and Ladder 1 (1968); first-run responsibility for Downtown
area, west to Godwin Street; 2,475 runs - about 54 percent medical
runs and about 30 percent full-response calls
Station No. 3: 429 Jamestown - Engine 3 (1978); first-run
responsibility for Shea Terrace, Scotts Creek and Turnpike Road area
up to Frederick Boulevard; 1,576 runs - about 44 percent medical and
40 percent full-response
Station No. 4: 445 Lee Ave. - Engine 4 (1978); first runs in Port
Norfolk and West Norfolk; 942 runs - about 53 percent medical and 30
percent full-response
Station No. 6: 1120 Portsmouth Blvd. - Engine 6 (1991); first
runs in Prentis Park, Southside, Highland Biltmore and Truxtun;
2,223 runs - about 65 percent medical and 22 percent full-response
Station No. 7: 3901 Winchester Drive - Engine 7 (1988); first
runs for Westhaven and Midtown area up to Port Norfolk (Because of
central location, makes runs with other companies in all
directions.); 1,892 runs; about 45 percent medical and 40 percent
full-response
Station No. 9: 1195 Hodges Ferry Road - Engine 9 (1971, with 1968
motor); first runs for Hodges Manor, Park Manor, Simonsdale and
Rollingwood areas; 1,021 runs - about 57 percent medical and 25
percent full-response
Station No. 10: 3230 Victory Blvd. - Engine 10 (1993) and Ladder
3 (1975); first runs to surrounding areas of Victory Boulevard from
Airline to Deep Creek boulevards, including Fairwood Homes and
Cavalier Manor; 2,141 runs - about 57 percent medical and 29 percent
full-response
Station No. 11: 32 Prospect Parkway - Engine 11 (1971); first
runs to Cradock and surrounding areas; 1,105 runs - about 52 percent
medical and 30 percent full-response
Station No. 12: 3201 Cedar Lane - Engine 12 (1969), Engine 13
(1968) and Ladder 4 (1964); first runs for Churchland and across
bridge to Waterview area; 1,442 runs - about 55 percent medical and
23 percent full-response
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH FIRE DEPARTMENT by CNB