ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702030019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
The ladder truck at the Hollins fire and rescue station was put there because the station is close to apartment buildings, adult homes, businesses and industries that dot northeastern Roanoke County.
When emergency dispatchers received a call at 4:15 p.m. Jan. 7 that one of those apartment buildings was on fire, they radioed for two ladder trucks to respond.
The Hollins truck was closest. The five firefighters on duty made it to the fire in four minutes, but the ladder truck sat in its bay until volunteers could get there. It arrived an hour and a half after the call.
Two and a half weeks later, there was another afternoon call for two ladder trucks. This time, the fire was in a vacant town house. Firefighters arrived in six minutes. Their ladder truck was still parked at the station when they returned hours later.
In both cases, a ladder truck did arrive to help put out the fires. But Roanoke County has only three ladder trucks, and the backup had to travel from Vinton, a trip that took 16 minutes for the apartment fire and 19 minutes for the town houses.
For years, the debate over how many paid firefighters are needed in Roanoke County has focused on whether more should be hired to cover night and weekend calls. High-profile disasters - the Shenandoah Homes blaze that killed four in 1989 and the Holiday Inn-Salem that was severely damaged in 1993 - occurred during early-morning hours when the closest stations were empty.
During daylight hours, firefighters are posted at nine of the county's 11 stations, ready to be out the door in less than one minute. However, members of the firefighters union say the two January fires show that more staffing is needed even during the hours county residents believe they are safest.
"The biggest problem we have is putting the rubber on the road," said Tom Bier, secretary of the union.
Hollins, which had more fire and rescue calls last year than any other station in the county, sometimes has as few as five people on duty during the day.
Even when a ladder truck is requested, a five-person crew will choose a pumper truck and ambulance instead when they know they will be the first to arrive, said Bruce Roy, president of the firefighters union.
Without a pumper truck, there is no water. It takes one person to operate the controls and two to handle the waterline. The ambulance carries lifesaving equipment, the top priority in any fire. At the least, an ambulance needs a driver and one person to provide medical attention.
But Roy said ladder trucks aren't optional equipment. Even if there is no one to rescue from the top of a burning building, the trucks carry heavy equipment to cut holes in the roof so smoke can escape, allowing firefighters to get inside and search for victims. There are axes, metal bars and other tools for ripping out walls and ceilings to reach the blaze.
Paid and volunteer firefighters at the Hollins station answered a station record 1,927 calls last year, said Volunteer Chief Frank Stebbins. Because of the volume and frequency of evening calls, volunteers sleep over every night, he said.
"I can't ask these guys to come in here and stay here in the daytime, too," he said.
For three years, he has asked for more paid firefighters to be assigned to the station during the day. He got one last year, but Stebbins said six more are needed.
Stebbins is one of three volunteer chiefs who have made daylight staffing a top priority in this year's budget requests. The other requests are four for Back Creek and three in Bent Mountain.
Union leaders say those 13 new firefighters are needed as well as 15 more that showed up as lower priorities on other volunteer chiefs' requests. The salary range for a new firefighter is $22,300 to $25,800 a year.
The volunteer chiefs' requests go to county Fire & Rescue Chief Richard Burch, who will then make a request to the Board of Supervisors. The board is just starting work on the 1997-98 budget.
Since Burch was hired in August, he has made scheduling changes to stretch his staff of 42 paid firefighters and paramedics over a longer day. Firefighters at Hollins switched from 10- to 12-hour shifts in December and those in Fort Lewis will do the same late this month. The three battalion chiefs now work 24-hour shifts. It's their job to shift people from other stations to cover for a crew that is answering a call.
The new chief said there's no more room for such creative scheduling. He wants to put more stations on 12-hour shifts and to have two battalion chiefs on duty at all times. Both changes would require new positions.
Burch said he hasn't decided how many new people to ask for, but it will be fewer than 28. He said he's had to weigh those needs against others that are pressing. Three of the county's 11 fire stations lack sleeping quarters for volunteers, and there are aging engines that need to be replaced. He also must make sure there are enough ambulances and paramedics to serve the county: Nearly 70 percent of emergency calls are for that purpose.
Balancing those demands is made more confusing because the department has no policy on what level of service it should provide and no long-range plan outlining how to reach it, Burch said. That's a handicap during budget season, and Burch said he will have a plan before it's time to wade through his second round of budget talks.
County officials have known for years that they needed a plan, and there have been many studies, proposals, surveys and committee meetings without any tangible results. The most ambitious proposal came in 1994, when union representatives called for round-the-clock, seven-day staffing, which would require four times as many paid firefighters as the county has now.
That's a big jump for County Administrator Elmer Hodge, who points out that the county's paid emergency staff has grown from five to 56 since he was hired 11 years ago.
"Public safety has done better than other county departments over the years," he said.
Burch said he can't support the union's proposal, either.
``The reality is, if we did that we'd have to close half the schools or we'd have to eliminate 50 police officers or we'd have to raise utility bills,'' he said. ``We can't do that countywide, under the budget constraints, to staff for the worst disaster all the time.''
At the same time, he is cautious about resting on the laurels of a satisfaction survey done last year in which county residents gave their highest marks to fire and rescue services. The public perception is based on how fast the first truck arrives at a fire, Burch said, and sometimes speed isn't enough.
Only the firefighters know which trucks never made it.
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: File/January 1997. 1.& 2. Roanoke County firefightersby CNB(above and right) battle the blaze at Bent Creek Apartments on Jan.
7. Members of the firefighters union say fires like this one show
that more staffing is needed. color. Graphic: Map by staff. color.
Chart by staff: Paid firefighters for daylight duty.