Vance County Commissioner Dan Brummitt, a 12-year representative of District 4, was on Tuesday’s edition of WIZS’ Town Talk program to discuss plans to improve response time to fires and emergencies in the county.

Working with a fire plan crafted by the Vance County Board of Commissioners approximately seven years ago, Brummitt said several “tweaks” have been made over the years to better serve residents.

“We’ve put paid firefighters in during the day in Bearpond, Hicksboro and Townsville [fire departments] and are looking at putting paid staff in all of the volunteer fire departments on a part-time basis,” said Brummitt.

According to Brummitt, the County’s new CAD software will allow for faster and more accurate tracking of calls and response time. “With the new system, we can identify specifically what kind of calls we receive and where they are occurring so we can more accurately predict behaviors and put people in the right place to ensure quicker response times.”

The Board’s Public Safety Committee hopes to have an approved proposal to take before the full Vance County Board of Commissioners this fall. “We hope to have more accurate numbers after three months or so of data collection with the CAD system before we present the plan.”

While Brummitt was thankful to the various fire departments and the Volunteer Association for their feedback and support of the plan to monitor calls and redistribute firefighters where needed, he admitted unemployment rumors have created concern. “There has been apprehension that people were going to lose their jobs. We’ve been very deliberate from the beginning of the process to ensure that no person is going to lose their job.”

“You may not wake up in the same fire department that you’re in now, but your job is not going away,” said Brummitt. On the contrary, Brummitt said payroll could increase if current unpaid volunteer work becomes paid part-time employment.

Brummitt reiterated that nothing is set in stone and that commissioners are still developing the plan and receiving input from the community. He also stated that any previous plans presented or reported are simply concept plans and not a final, approved version.

“We are still developing the plan, still receiving input from professionals, volunteers and the community; all input will go into developing the plan. It is a totally open process.”

Brummitt believes all of the input and restructuring of the current fire plan will pay off if citizens in Vance County are better protected in emergency situations. “The end-all is that we want to get quicker with response time to people out in the county and we’re working on that now.”