Plans should be in place by summer 2025 to send an additional fire department to structure fires in the county, a move that has the potential to save lives and property, not to mention having a possible positive effect on the county’s insurance rating and property owners’ insurance premiums.
Brandon Link, president of the Vance County Firefighters Association and chief of the Watkins Volunteer Fire Department, said the idea of sending a fourth department on calls was solidified at a recent joint meeting of the county’s public safety committee and the fire commission.
Although a work conflict prevented him from attending the Nov. 20 meeting, Link said he was briefed by others in attendance.
The county commissioners had earlier given the green light, but the plan “had been in a holding pattern for a while,” Link said, partly because the county was conducting a fire study to consider restructuring the county’s fire departments, all but one of which are volunteer departments.
Link said he believes the Vance County Fire Department will remain the lone fully staffed station to provide support to departments when they get dispatched to fire calls.
When that additional department is dispatched, it means there will be more trucks, more water and more personnel on scene to more quickly extinguish fires and get control of the situation.
Those are the three main criteria that are factored in to determine a county’s insurance – ISO – rating. A better ISO rating translates into lower premium bills for property owners.
“It’s something we’ve all been asking for, close to five years now,” Link said.
Unfortunately, those premiums won’t be going down for this five-year cycle, he said, adding that the decision was “bittersweet – we knew it was going to make a difference… we missed the boat (this time) but hope to get it next time.”
Making the necessary changes to get that fourth department included on calls takes a little doing. The 911 dispatchers use a response matrix to determine the order that departments are called to fires, Link said.
“It is exciting, (but) it’s a long process,” he noted, adding that a good bit of the groundwork has been laid – now it’s just a matter of getting that information put into the system.
Link said there’s a good mix of seasoned and new, or newish, chiefs of the various departments who are “walking in lockstep together, which to me is a good sign.” Everyone wants what is best for the county, and his colleagues are willing to do whatever they can to provide the best service possible.
County Manager C. Renee Perry and the commissioners have heard their needs, requests and options for providing fire service, he said. “They understand our love and passion and desire to do our job.”
As for the fate of the Vance County Fire Department, Link said local fire officials have expressed their desire for it to stay in place and that the county would be “taking a step backwards” if changes are made to the way it operates. “They are vital to us in what we do,” he said of the paid firefighters at that station.
And while appreciative of all the part-timers and volunteers that are the backbone of the other departments across the county, Link said that’s not enough coverage. Part-timers and volunteers have jobs or other commitments. “They’re not obligated to respond,” he said, but “they’re committed to respond – when they’re available.”
The state requires a minimum of four firefighters to respond from the primary fire department dispatched to a call, but Link said there could be as many as eight or nine who show up.
Add four that come from VCFD – plus the chief if it’s a daytime call – and another three or four from the secondary department and now from that fourth department, and there could be upwards of a couple of dozen people on the ground to combat the fire.
But that number could just as easily be halved, he added, depending on the number of volunteers and part-timer firefighters who are available.
Having more people and equipment responding to a fire call could help when it comes to ISO ratings, Link noted.
Drewry and Epsom departments maintained their ISO rating of 5, and the Watkins department improved its rating to 5 this year. Several other departments have been evaluated but haven’t gotten their score yet, and the last three departments should be completed in the next few months. The results are a report card of sorts to reflect performance.
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