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Virgina Department Questioned Over Half-Mile, 10 Minute Response
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.
Related
Vinton fire crew needed 10 minutes to go half-mile
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.
Related
Vinton fire crew needed 10 minutes to go half-mile
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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"[son of the owner] 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."
The article really has nothing to do with the response time, per se but rather the lack of funding necessary to staff firehouses.
"Slow response times in Vinton prompted [Chief] 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."
So the Mullin's, whose house burned down, appear to have been willing to pay more in taxes for greater fire protection but the majority of the taxpayers thought otherwise. So here's someone who has suffered as a result of others cheapness. Shame.
And I agree, the writer of this article was clearly trying to present the department in a bad light. Was it just ignorance or intent? Either way, seems to have violated the guidelines for journalistic reporting.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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9 mins / 15 firefighters / 90% of the time is a unlikely in most places. If I remember correctly, that same document NFPA 1720 (for volunteer organizations) targets 8 minutes maximum for the arrival of the first due unit.
Someone should retain lawyer and ask the city why they feel fire protection before 1800 hrs deserves better response times... then you might see some changes.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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So here's someone who has suffered as a result of others cheapness. Shame.
Exactly.
And I agree, the writer of this article was clearly trying to present the department in a bad light. Was it just ignorance or intent? Either way, seems to have violated the guidelines for journalistic reporting
Funny how that seems to be the norm today in journalism isn't it?
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Permalink Reply by jeff kerr on
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I belong to an all volunteer fire company in Virgina . In our company we allow trained firefighters/EMT's to use red lights .
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Permalink Reply by Phoenix on
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Either way, seems to have violated the guidelines for journalistic reporting
It appears todays journalistic guidelines are....Print what you want about whomever you want without doing your due diligence. If you are caught with faulty facts or down right lies print your retraction somewhere in the middle of the classified ads in print smaller than the fine print on a credit card application.
As far as apologies for false information.....forget about it.
These are todays journalistic guidelines.
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FETC I believe what you quoted is from 1710.
http://www.fsans.ns.ca/pdf/research/nfpa1720.pdf
NFPA 1720
4.2.2. Initial Attack
4.2.2.1. Upon assembling necessary resources, shall have the
capability to safely initiate attack within 2 minutes, 90%
of the time
I couldn't find anything that states a response time. Could that be something that ISO has put out?
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Permalink Reply by John Dobson on
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I agree with you John on the make-up part. But if you know the truck can be inroute why hold it for everyone to fill it? Meet it at the scene, Yes they may be well dressed obsevers but there not holding the apparatus at the station waiting for them. If the apparatus arrives first than a couple of firefighters can get things started.
My Engineer's creed
This is my apparatus . There are many like it, but this one is mine. My apparatus is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My apparatus, without me, is useless. Without my apparatus, I am useless............
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Again John, it all depends upon the dept and what they face. Not every dept has the capability to communicate to know who is responding, who is going to the station or who is going to the scene etc.
Such policies have been made because one may always think Ol Jim always drives the rig, it will get there....but maybe Jim is gone and can't respond. Then you may have those who respond the rig expecting people to go direct, only to find they went to the station. Then there is the possibility of gear being in a different vehicle, whereas it could be left at the station.
So you have such policies in place. Waiting to roll a rig means you have personnel and equipment together. Having a rig respond with a crew also decreases the chance of multiple people responding in POV and taking risks or putting the public at risk. In the end it is determined what works best and safest for a dept and their coverage.
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Permalink Reply by Patti Walz on
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If the Chief had waited to respond to my home we would have lost everything. I am thankful everyday that the Chief was visiting the station when the fire started. He was able to knock it out with the garden hose, keep water damage to a minimum, and hand me an application to join the FD.
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Look further into the document under 4.3.2
Understanding the verbage, they allow the first 60 seconds to be donning gear, therefore the response times (over the road travel time) is actually 1 minute less than the chart.
http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=999&itemID=24347&...
http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/ROP/1720-A2009-ROPDraft.pdf
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We all mark in route, 2040 in route to station 20. 2045 in route to the scene. 2001 in route to station 22 ect..... If others don't have that abilty than that is a big problem of itself.
If I am out of town I let my department members know. If they are gone they let everyone know. It is just the of way of life in are fire department to know what others are doing in town or out and when.
Communication is one of the biggest parts of a fire department. Without it we are a army of one and not a team.
We stress and demand POVs drive and park like they have a little common sense.
So you have such policies in place. Waiting to roll a rig means you have personnel and equipment together. Having a rig respond with a crew also decreases the chance of multiple people responding in POV and taking risks or putting the public at risk. In the end it is determined what works best and safest for a dept and their coverage.
So I guess no one can drive like a moron to the station just to the scene?
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