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
The action was spurred
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.
Reaching that goal is getting harder all the time. Brown said volunteer numbers are down sharply, and the department doesn't have the money to hire and train new personnel.
"It's not sustainable," he said. "I don't sleep very well at night."
It won't be enough to simply create a new station. The station will need to be staffed. Stafford's Fire and Rescue Department suffered a recent $800,000 budget cut, and the county-wide budget squeeze means hiring new firefighters is out of the question. Instead, career firefighters will be shifted from the Mountain View station to man the new facility.
"Even before the budget cuts, we were behind the eight ball," Brown said. "I've never seen it this bad."
Supervisors seemed to agree with Brown, and they were all clearly frustrated by the ISO development.
"There's no good situation here," Supervisor Paul Milde said.
"Right now, Mountain View has 'A' service, and Rock Hill has 'F' service," Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer said. "What this does is give everyone 'C' service, which is all we can afford."
Some supervisors questioned why the 5/9 ISO rating has not improved since the last review, in 1989. Since then, Stafford has shifted from an all-volunteer fire and rescue staff to incorporate a full-time, professional staff. A number of new stations also have been built.
"Those improvements have allowed us to retain our rating," Brown said. "In my opinion, many of our unrecognized fire stations were only recognized because of the fully staffed career stations."
Not all of the ISO news was bad. Both the Falmouth and Stafford Company 2 volunteer fire departments earned high ratings and praise from the fire chief.
Stafford's Fire and Rescue Department will need more of those success stories to overcome the challenges it faces in the next few years. For now, it's trying to make do with what it has.
"We're trying to fill 10 holes with nine blocks," Supervisor George Schwartz said. "This is a serious life-or-death situation."
Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com