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Top County Leaders Explain Local Impact Of Volunteer Fire Dept. Consolidation

September 5, 2008

The unification of Escambia County’s volunteer fire departments is on schedule to be completed by October 1, and county officials offered assurances Thursday night that departments in North Escambia would continue their long standing traditions of service.

“The entire fire unification process is not about someone coming in and taking charge,” Mike Hardin, the county’s public safety bureau chief, told the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club Thursday night. “Escambia County is going to have volunteer fire departments for a very long time.”

The volunteer fire system and services in the county are very healthy,” County Fire Chief Ken Perkins told the Ruritan Club.

“It is absolutely impossible to replace the volunteer system in this county,” Perkins said, adding that the county could never afford it.

Each of the county’s volunteer fire departments will maintain its board of directors and will operate under its own district chief chosen by that board.

“As much as we can, we want to keep the volunteer system healthy and running like it is now,” Perkins said.

“Career firefighters are not coming to Walnut Hill,” he said, as long as the volunteer department continues its excellent record of responding to calls. “Walnut Hill will continue to operate like it has before.” The same applies to the other departments in North Escambia, Perkins said.

“In no way, shape or form is Escambia County trying to come in and take over the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department,” he told the Ruritan Club. The Ruritan Club has a long-standing relationship with the fire department, with the club providing the funds to start Walnut Hill’s fire department many years ago.

The fire department unification plan comes with a better organizational structure, a more standardized administration procedure, centralized vehicle maintenance, a centralized equipment warehouse and other combined services that should save the county a lot of money, Perkins said.

The unification also comes with tougher standards for volunteer firefighters, including dozens of hours of training and the ability to pass a doctor’s physical exam at the county’s expense. The requirements also specify that a firefighter will hold a high school diploma or a GED certificate. Many Walnut Hill firefighters belong to the Mennonite Church, and their school only goes through the tenth grade. The high school diploma requirement would have disqualified many Walnut Hill firefighters since their Mennonite members never obtain that high school diploma.

“Anyone that is here as a volunteer on September 30 of this year will be grandfathered in,” Perkins said. “They will be exempt from the requirements and new qualifications for three years.”

“We realized the high school diplomas were an issue, and that is why they are exempt for three years,” he said. “They can promote as high as they can get in those three years without meeting the new requirements.”

The volunteer not meeting the requirements will be allowed to advance in rank during the three year period. But they would no longer be able to advance in rank after the three year exemption period unless they met all requirements of the advanced position.

However, after October 1, no one will be consider a firefighter in Escambia County unless they have received certification as at least a Firefighter I from the Florida State Fire Marshal. After October 1, exemption letters that are commonly issued will no longer be accepted in Escambia County.

Under the new unified fire department plan, the current department chief would be titled a “district chief” in charge of a current station such as McDavid or Molino.

“There has been some talk, some discussion, about combining two or more stations up here (in North Escambia) under on chief, but that is more than is in this current plan,” Perkins said.

The unification plans calls for a specific organization structure based upon rank, regardless of whether the person hold that rank is a volunteer or paid firefighter.

“Fire knows no difference between a paid firefighter and a volunteer firefighter,” Perkins said.

Assistant County Fire Chief Robbie Whitfield and County Administrator Bob McLaughlin also attended the Thursday night meeting at the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club.

Pictured top: McDavid Volunteer Fire Department Engine 912 at the scene of a recent accident on Highway 29. Pictured middle: Escambia County Fire Chief Ken Perkins addresses the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club Thursday night. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News