Stafford urged to add fire station
Stafford's Fire and Rescue Department deals with coverage and staffing challenges
BY JONAS BEALS
Date published: 11/9/2008
BY JONAS BEALS
Stafford will soon have a new, temporary fire station.
The county will spend $60,000 over the next six months to lease and upgrade space at the intersection of Shelton Shop and Garrisonville roads.
The satellite station will exist for one reason: to satisfy insurance companies. That, in turn, will keep insurance rates reasonable for property owners in the northwestern corner of the county. Fire and Rescue Chief Rob Brown hopes to have the station open by Dec. 1.
The action was spurred by Insurance Services Office Inc., a company that conducts periodic audits of fire departments across the country. The ratings it assigns are used by insurance companies to set premiums.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being best, the ISO determined that Stafford has an overall 5/9 rating. That means that structures within five miles of a station and 1,000 feet of a hydrant have a service level of 5. Anything within the 5-mile radius but more than 1,000 feet from a hydrant is a 9. Buildings outside the 5-mile radius get a 10.
Problems began when the understaffed Rock Hill station on Garrisonville Road was given a class 10 "unrecognized" rating by ISO. It was not the only station in the county that received a 10, but ISO standards allow for station overlap. If a failing station is within five road miles of a passing one, it receives the higher grade.
Unfortunately, the Rock Hill station stands alone. If the situation isn't rectified, property owners in that part of the county could see their insurance premiums go up.
"We don't know how much or when they will increase, but we expect residents in that area would see an increase," ISO senior field representative Phil Leitma said.
In some ways, the ISO review ignores the true abilities of fire and rescue services, but it is indicative of underlying problems in the county.
"ISO is an antiquated system that just focuses on fire response," Brown said, stressing that his department provides a number of other important services, and does them well. His personal goal is to have response times below eight minutes, 90 percent of the time, throughout the county.
Read more stories about Stafford
Date published: 11/9/2008
Most recent reader comments:
Supervisor George Schwartz said. "This is a serious life-or-death situation." So why the bandaid? Does this move solve the underlying problem? The fire, ems, rescue and sheriff public safety budgets are strangled.
Berea and Courthouse stations were built for about $8.8M total
Priority spending
(posted by
Grumpy1
, Nov. 9, 2008 11:04 pm)
Where did the funds come from for the new firehouse on 630 come from. From the looks of the new palace, I'd say they probably could have hired several proffesional firefighters. As for teh BOS, they would rather run around gathering support for road funding for Falmouth interchanges that will help Fredericksburg citizens more than it helps Stafford.
Maybe Stafford should look to Spotsylvania for some ideas. The volunteer fire depts. in Spotsy have been improving service over the last couple of years.
This is a tough problem to solve. It seems that as Stafford has hired more and more paid firefighters, the problem hasn't gotten any better. And the money to hire more career staff doesn't grow on trees - it has to come from somewhere. What Stafford needs is more volunteers. Easier said than done, I know. It should be noted that the two stations commended for good ratings - Stafford CH and Falmouth - are manned by volunteers 24 hrs/day. Stafford could use several more stations like those.
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