AMANDA CODISPOTI
The Roanoke Times
Reprinted with Permission
Robert Mullins watched flames shoot out of his Vinton home for seven minutes Monday night before a Roanoke fire truck rolled up.
It was followed by a Vinton fire truck, which took 10 minutes to arrive from the station that was less than a half-mile from the fire.
"Certainly we'd like for that to be better, being so close to the station," said Roanoke County Fire & Rescue Chief Rick Burch.
After 6 p.m., the Vinton fire station relies on 22 volunteers, many of whom respond to fire calls from home. The fire truck can't leave the station until at least three firefighters are on board, and that's what caused the 10-minute response time Monday night, Burch said.
There are no countywide response time goals, Burch said, adding that the response time for Catawba would be very different for Vinton.
"We just monitor it, and if we see something that we think took too long, we'll look at it and see what the issues are," he said.
The National Fire Protection Association recommends that an urban, volunteer fire station such as Vinton's get 15 firefighters at the scene of a fire within nine minutes 90 percent of the time.
Slow response times in Vinton prompted Burch two years ago to seek funding for career positions to staff the station 24 hours a day, he said. He couldn't get the funding because of budget cuts.
"We've known for a while that there's issues, but we don't have the resources available to resolve the problem," the chief said.
The fire at the duplex in the 200 block of West Cleveland Avenue displaced three residents, killed three pets, including Mullins' cat, and caused $150,000 in damage. No one was hurt.
Mullins didn't want to be interviewed, said his nephew, Tommy Mullins. Tommy Mullins is a former volunteer firefighter and said he and his parents, who own the duplex, understand why it took Vinton firefighters 10 minutes to get to the house.
"We're not upset," he said. "We're wishing Vinton would utilize our tax money" for career firefighters.
Firefighters from Read Mountain, Mount Pleasant and the North County station were also called to the blaze, which took about 40 minutes to quell.
Roanoke fire trucks from stations No. 6 on Jamison Avenue Southeast and No. 1 on Franklin Road Southwest were called to the fire as part of a mutual aid agreement between the city and county.
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Vinton fire crew needed 10 minutes to go half-mile