TN town sees need for career FF's

[Jason762 2]

Tennessee Town Struggles Without Full-Time Firefighters

A busy day care center in unincorporated DeSoto County catches fire during the middle of a workday.

The alarm is sounded. The volunteer fire department serving the area rolls into action. Trouble is, most of the firefighters are at work, some pretty far from the station house. So the lone volunteer available drives the pumper to the blaze, where he awaits the arrival of one or all of the county's four fire and emergency services administrators. Valuable minutes are lost in fighting the blaze. What if a child was trapped inside?

The day care example is just that, an example. But the shortage of volunteers available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays is real. So real, in fact, that DeSoto County officials are studying whether paid firefighters are needed to offset the shortage.

The answer is yes.

Volunteer firefighters are legendary heroes in movies, novels and television. The county's eight volunteer fire departments have about 300 highly trained and motivated volunteers. Bobby Storey, county fire coordinator and fire marshal, said the state requires volunteers to receive 40 hours of training to be certified. DeSoto County requires 185 to 200 hours of training. These men and women put their lives on the line to serve the public. All the county's residents should recognize and appreciate what they do.

The undeniable fact, though, is that the volunteer concept was fine through the 1970s and 1980s, when much of the county's growth was occurring inside city boundaries.

But it's not fine in 2006 in a county that has mushroomed to more than 138,000 residents and continues to grow by 7.5 families daily. More and more land in unincorporated areas of the county is being developed. The completion of the countywide sewer system will accelerate that growth.

As Storey rightly points out, more schools and day care centers are also opening in areas served by volunteers. Residents need the assurance that their lives and their children's lives are fully protected 24 hours a day.

The current situation during daytime hours also puts the volunteers under a greater risk of injury. Storey said firefighters have a "two-in, two-out" rule that calls for two firefighters to go into a building when necessary and two to remain outside as backup. Obviously, this is not possible with only one or two volunteers at a scene. That means there is only so much they can do at a fire.

The county study would compare staffing costs with savings on homeowners insurance premiums in unincorporated areas. One option under consideration is to have two paid firefighters at each volunteer station during the day shift. County Supervisor Bill Russell said any paid staffing plan would require a tax increase for residents outside the cities. He would like voters to have a say in a referendum.

Having paid staff on duty will raise the county's fire rating, which will mean big savings on residents' homeowners insurance. Residents should be willing to use those savings to improve a vital service for their lives and property.