Daniel Prince
May 5, 2023
No action taken on the request at the budget meeting
At Tuesday’s County Council budget workshop, Santuc Fire Chief Mark Wade, who is president of the firefighters’ association, spoke with council about the possibility of hiring two part-time firefighters in the county to run calls during the day. He said the fire departments need help, especially during the daytime hours when many volunteer firefighters are working and can’t easily get away to respond. He said the county’s fire departments ran a total of 1840 calls last year.
Wade said before his death, Dennis Merrifield, the county’s emergency management director, had drafted a resolution on behalf of the departments, asking for help, particularly during the daytime. He said the part-time firefighters would respond to fires and do duties around the station, including hose and hydrant testing, pre-incident plans, community risk reduction, and other duties.
Supervisor Phillip Russell indicated that the issue is going to take more discussion, more teamwork, and perhaps even a countywide system to get it to work, and it might have to involve more than two part-time people. He said having one pot of money, rather than a separate tax millage solely for the personnel, would be a more efficient way to handle it. No action was taken on the request at the meeting.