THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 21, 1995 TAG: 9504190157
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
WHEN CHESAPEAKE FIREFIGHTER W. Todd Russell isn't battling flames, he scrambles to keep up with a different sort of challenge - the city's growing neighborhoods and the new roads that spread through the city like wildfire.
With 27 new subdivisions approved last year in a city that has no central map-making office, Russell said firemen have no choice but to become amateur cartographers. Since firefighters can't rely on commercial maps alone because of the city's rapid growth, they chart their own.
``We got a call not long ago that a guy fell off a roof (at a new subdivision) off of Bruce Road. He was a builder working on a new house,'' Russell said. ``But the street sign for that road wasn't even up yet!''
Russell, who is stationed in Western Branch, is one of several city firefighters whose duties include plotting maps and distributing them to other fire stations.
Fire officials began charting their own maps about nine years ago, after a retired Portsmouth fire chief, Clarence W. George, ended his map service to the area.
While the city's Planning Department also makes its own maps, the maps often lack specifics, such as the number of fire hydrants, the nearest water supplies and block numbers, that help firefighters plan their approach quickly during emergencies.
The city's 300 zoning maps, which show utility lines and property lines, are large transparent, hanging maps that are available to any city department and any resident for purchase. But, with a scale of 200 feet to one inch, they are also too big for the fire department to use.
``Each department really has its own needs,'' said Planning Director Brent R. Nielson. ``Public works, for example, needs very, very detailed maps with sewer lines and things like that.''
In each of the city's 14 fire stations, one or two firefighters take on the responsibility of keeping the maps in their district up-to-date and accurate.
They need to know which streets are ``paper streets,'' - streets that appear on maps, but do not actually exist - and know the roads well enough to stay within their target response time of five minutes.
In 1994, the fire department's calls rose to 10,802 from 9,040 in 1990 and the average response time was five minutes and 43 seconds, according to Fire Chief Stephen Best.
The city's subdivisions grew from 14 in 1991 to 27 last year, and the fire department added 10 new firefighters to its staff.
The city is growing so fast, officials said, that mailmen, police officers and even pizza delivery workers sometimes request copies of fire station maps.
When firefighter Don Simmons was transferred to Great Bridge from the South Norfolk fire station two years ago, he took on the map making duties for Chesapeake's fastest growing area.
``When I came down here, the maps we had were outdated. I didn't know a street in Great Bridge, and I thought it'd be the best way to learn,'' he said. ``But I enjoy it.'
Firefighters said making their own maps also helps them learn similar sounding streets that can cause confusion. There's Stafford Drive, Stafford Street and Stratford Court, for example, and after Interstate 664 intersected about two miles of Gum Road, it was renamed Old Gum Road, Gum Court and Jolliff Road.
``One of the things that made people scramble to make new maps was when the interstate cut streets in half. Streets like Woodland Drive became Woodland and Old Woodland Drive,'' said Lt. John Banicky of Western Branch.
``Things look different at night, too. (The maps) have to be right. You know, if you wake up at night, throw open the map and if something's in your way that's not supposed to be. . . .'' Banicky said, shaking his head.
Fire fighters said they sometimes receive development plans and street names from developers or the Planning Department but even then, they sometimes need to hunt down the actual locations.
``But when we go out and do this ourselves, we're forced to learn it,'' said Russell last week as he drove a fire engine down on new roads towards an apartment complex under construction. ``You kind of get lazy if you rely on something you buy.''
He leaned out of the window of the driver's seat to chat with a foreman.
``See, this is what I was talking about,'' he said as he waved good-bye to the man. ``For a month now, we've been getting used to this place being called Clover Meadows, and now they say they're changing it to Taylor Point.''
Developers and even city planners often forget or delay relaying information about such changes to the fire department, Russell said.
Russell pulled the engine down another road and pointed. ``See, there's a house on that small dirt road with just a few other houses. There's no sign and his address is Tyre Neck Road. But he's not really on Tyre Neck. We could've been riding around for a while looking for it,'' he said.
Firefighters learned that the houses were located on the dirt road when they were called recently about a nearby brush fire.
Stopping at an apartment complex for the elderly, Russell scanned the grounds and began sketching the plan on a note pad.
``A lot of people think we just sit back in the station and don't do anything, but we're always doing something,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY for story and color cover
[color cover photo of a fire engine]<
Firefighters Danny Whitlow, left, and Todd Russell sketch out a map
of a new senior citizen center on Western Branch Road.
Firefighters drive through an apartment complex under construction
to become familiar with the place.
A hand-drawn map used by the Fire Department.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Lt. John Banicky, left, and Todd Russell inspect a rural area in
Western Branch. Firefighters must keep up with new growth, but also
be familiar with rural areas with narrow roads and no street signs.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT by CNB