Recommend This StoryFire and rescue forum: Departments strained
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Agencies face increase in calls, fewer volunteers
By Kaitlin Mayhew -- kmayhew@nvdaily.com
TOMS BROOK -- Shenandoah County is not the place it was 20 years ago, at least when it comes to what residents need in terms of fire and rescue services.
That was the motto during Shenandoah County Fire and Rescue Chief Gary Yew's presentation at Wednesday night's community meeting.
"Times are a changing," he said.
Yew emphasized that Shenandoah County has changed from having all volunteer fire departments, to now having a mixed system. That, paired with an increased number of calls and a shortage of volunteers, has caused some strain on all the departments.
District 5 Supervisor Dennis Morris hosted the meeting at the Toms Brook Fire Hall to address, he said, questions and concerns he's heard from county residents having to do with the fire and rescue departments.
One of those concerns includes the recently approved Emergency Medical Service Insurance Billing, or charging fees for ambulance transportation.
Morris said the new policy will be a major factor in helping the fire departments and the fire and rescue departments generate revenue.
"They expect it will bring in an excess of $1 million in the first year," he said.
Yew assured the audience of about 70, that the fees will be billed directly to the insurance companies, or Medicare/Medicaid, and any county resident with insurance will never see a bill.
"Nothing comes out of your pocket," he said.
If a citizen has no insurance, Yew said in some cases they may be able to waive the fee.
The presentation included multiple figures showing the departments' efforts to measure their response times to calls by how many minutes it takes the agencies to respond.
Yew referenced two recent house fires that occurred Tuesday in the county.
"With [the fire on] Knupp Road, the response was delayed and getting enough resources on the scene was weak," he said. "On Swover Creek Road, there another residential structure fire, and all resources responded in five minutes, we had an excess of 25 firefighters on the scene."
Yew said that coordinating response times and adequate volunteers and resources is a problem in the county, but one they are trying hard to address.
He said they have made some changes recently. Now, for instance, if five minutes passes and a call hasn't been answered, a second unit will automatically be dispatched.
Previously, the wait time was eight minutes before another unit was dispatched.
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Isn't Toms Brook also a major respondent to all accidents on that region of I-81? That's a big stretch of dangerous road between Strasburg and Woodstock, with Toms Brook being the only on/off ramp for emergency vehicles. Definitely a department spread thin.