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Escambia Fire May Move Paid Fire Crew From Century To McDavid For Expanded Coverage
October 25, 2013
A paid Escambia Fire Rescue crew currently assigned to Century could be shifted to the McDavid Fire Station in an effort to improve the level of service across the North Escambia area.
“It is in the planning stages now,” Escambia Fire Rescue Fire Chief Patrick Grace said Thursday. “We are looking at the numbers right now, and they show a (paid) crew in McDavid could answer about 60 percent more calls.”
The paid firefighter crew currently staffs the Century Fire Station from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. The crew provides coverage during the daytime hours when many volunteers are unavailable due to employment outside the area. Volunteer firefighters answer calls at other times and on the weekends.
Until a few weeks ago, a paid crew was stationed at the Molino Fire Station during the same hours. But Molino’s paid crew was among those transferred to the Cantonment Station in order to provide 24/7 paid coverage after Cantonment experienced an overall lack of volunteer response. Since the switch, volunteers have worked to answer calls in Molino around the clock.
From the more centrally located McDavid Fire Station on Highway 29, a paid firefighter crew would be dispatched and able to answer calls a few miles — and just a few minutes — away in Century, Molino and Walnut Hill during the daytime hours when the availability of volunteers is the lowest. Volunteer firefighters in those areas would still be dispatched and respond to call in their districts.
Grace said the daytime paid fire crew in Century has answered 108 calls during the past year, many of which were in Flomaton. If the crew had been stationed in McDavid, they would have been dispatched on over 160 calls across parts of North Escambia.
“It’s an effort to look at getting the biggest bang for the taxpayer’s buck,” Grace said. “It’s nothing at all against Century.”
Grace noted that an Escambia County EMS ambulance would remain stationed in Century, responding the same current speed to any medical calls. And while stationed in McDavid, the paid firefighter crew would often be in Century, working on fire pre-plans for business, testing hydrants and taking part in other activities.
Century Mayor Freddie McCall, who previously served several years as Century’s fire chief, does not see the proposed change as a service improvement for his town.
“They are taking it away from Century; that’s not going to improve things,” he said. McCall said he plans to meet with Escambia County leaders to protest the potential move.
The proposed fire crew change from Century to McDavid is still in the planning stages with no date set for a potential change, Grace stressed. “We are just looking at how we can provide better service more often for the citizens of Escambia County.”
Pictured top and top inset: Escambia Fire Rescue trucks, most of which are assigned to North Escambia. Pictured bottom inset: Operated by a paid crew, Century’s Engine 511 responds to a brush fire Thursday morning. Pictured below: Ladder 5, assigned to Century. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
34 Responses to “Escambia Fire May Move Paid Fire Crew From Century To McDavid For Expanded Coverage”
I agree with Station 32 mom.
If things are changed it will mean many things:
1: Longer response time
2: Injured people have to wait longer for medical attention.
3: If there is an accident with entrapment and a fire with that accident, that person has less of a chance to be removed before full involvement of the vehicle.
4. As most of the homes in Century are older or mobile homes, usually 7 minutes is the time it takes fire to go through a home and it will be longer that that for them to get there.
If they want to put paid firefighters in McDavid, hire more and put them there!
Come on really:
If Escambia Public Safety wants to help its citizens why haven’t they posted a paid EMS unit at every fire department? I agree that a paramedic and 2 emts on a station based fire truck is a good move and can stabilize a patient waiting on EMS. But what you are missing is that in volunteer stations paramedic certified FFs are not allowed to operate as such AND every VFF isn’t required to be an EMT. Fire is so gung-ho to HIRE more FFs when what we really need are more EMS units. Just look at station 6 and 7. They spend over half of their time running medical calls. Not much time to train, put out fires, check hydrants, pre-plan, etc. Granted they both do a good job at providing medical assistance before EMS shows up but the fact still remains our EMS units are spread much thinner than our FFs.
Let me tell you why fire responds to medical calls. A fire truck stays put in a a firehouse waiting for a call in a certain district. They are stragictly closer than any ambulance when it comes to their own district. Sometimes an ambulance is 20-30 minutes away. A fire truck with 2 EMT’s and a Paramedic can get the paitent stable for EMS to load and go.
Putting a paid crew in a volunteer house ALWAYS causes more harm than good. Since 519 is already there and established I say let them stay. If you people want to really discuss a cancer in our department, lets talk about paid FFs not being allowed to volunteer after being hired on. I know several people that live in my community that want to volunteer but can’t.
Another note.
If you look at the numbers, most of the county’s “Fire Calls” are actually “EMS Calls” that should be taken care of with an ambulance. I get that Fire and EMS are both under Public Safety but stop trying to throw firefighters at medical calls.
Last but not least:
I think the county is wasting time and money with stipend. Pay the volunteers PER CALL and this “lack of volunteer response” will disappear.
Some of you are complaining about the fire truck having to come all the way from mcdavid to respond. But what about when the paid crew aint there? Ive witnessed several times E9 or Flomaton beating Century to calls in there own district. So why dont yall complain to them about that? It aint no different. Atleast if they move to mcdavid theyll have more people to respond. Just be glad someone is coming to save you. What if there was no fire men or anything. You wouldnt be complaining then where the paid crew would be.
Why does Century not have their own fire department to take care of their own people like Flomaton, Brewton, Atmore, and Pensacola do?
ifish4: a liability is when you do not have enough manpower to crew an engine to affect a difference in a citizens need for assistance. Nearly 10 years ago a chief advised public safety that his station could provide coverage on a holiday. That same holiday morning 3 children and their Mother perished in a fire. There was no initial response from the station. There have been several instances of the no response issue throughout the county; some with less tragic results. So when speaking of liability ECFR admin is trying to place a band-aid on a cut that needs stitches. Maybe the $200,000 someone eluded to can be used to fully staff McDavid or Century to.provide a guaranteed response. And be assured that McDavid’s personnel are satisfied that a crew is coming their way. Kudos to Chief Gilmore and his staff.
The way I see it it’s a liability for the county to take the guaranteed response from a more populated area and move it to a less populated area. Nobody will want to move a business to Century when the nearest guaranteed fire response during the day could be 25 miles away in Molino or Barrineau Park checking fire hydrants. Flomaton does respond to Century and they do a fine job of it, but their first responsibility is to Flomaton, not Century and they have day jobs to so a lot of them aren’t available during the day. In addition to the business’s in Century you also have the Century Care Center. The additional minutes could be very tragic for a lot of these people that wouldn’t be able to get out on their own, if a fire were to occur during the middle of a weekday when volunteers may not be available because of their jobs. It seems like Cantonment is at the heart of this problem, which isn’t new several years ago before there were any paid crews in the county I stopped to help a man get some things out of his motor home that was on fire. We were only a mile or so from the Cantonment fire station yet the motor home burned to the frame before Ensley got a crew on site almost 30 minutes after the first call. If the people of Cantonment don’t want to help themselves, then why should the rest of the county be put out for them. I say move the Molino crew back to Molino and leave the Century crew in Century.
-There is only 2-3 EMT in Walnut Hill and i only kow of one in Molino. They may of 1 or 2 more.
-Century do run some calls in Flomaton but Flomaton also runs call in Century. Flomaton is on a box alarm for any structure fires in Century.
1. Its factual actual
2. My facts are correct
3. You seem angry and bitter
4. Your taxes WILL NOT increase due to a 9 mile move of 3 FFs to E9; not the same engine sorry bro but learn context
5. Training is a moot point; career ffs as a whole have more training simply sue to the fact more time is spent at the firehouse than vols
6. It would be nice if your ramblings made sense because I’m not sure why you mean by high speed training and some of your obscure statements
7. McDavid and Walnut Hill usually do get some type of apparatus or personnel out of the barn; what 919 will do is provide a “guaranteed” response barring thembeing on another call
8. I know the drill and will argue you down with whatever you come up with
9. Also don’t type angry; makes you seem small and uninformed
10. Have a nice day
Some of these comments are so childish. Flomaton comes to Century for many calls. Just the other day Station 32 (Flomaton for you who don’t know) was called to a gas station on CENTURY. but luckly there was no major fire. I know for a fact that Station 32 beats Century to many calls in Century’s district. It is an automatic call for Flomaton to came to Century, and Century to go to Flomaton in certain circumstances. I hope for all you people who live in the Century area never have to experience a house fire because if the fire dept. moved to McDavid then Flomaton would be the closest, and if you don;t think Flomaton should come to Century well then I guess your house will just burn….
1. It won’t be the same engine they will be moving on to E9. Kind of a petty jab but I’ll take it!
2. Yeah we have seen how well Paid and Vol. Crews Function under one house. Cantonment has to give 24HR notice if they even want to be at that station or run with the paid Crew. There will always be animosity Between the Crews and drives away Vol.
3. Rates for stipends for standard firefighter are 300 a month but they have to meet counties requirement which includes meeting a certain percentage of the calls and attending training.
4. Yes moving an engine company doesn’t cost anything except irritate the City of Century into forming their own and keeping all the Taxes that are currently being paid to the county. I think the City of Century has a little bit more of a Tax Base than Mcdavid dose. So lets see Less people paying the same taxes for the same paid crew Hmmm sounds like a tax hike follows.
5. Regional Response I think the Vol. Can provide that same response minus ALS coverage but that is what we have EMS for.
6. Oh I didn’t know that EMT status was only granted to Paid Crews Last time I Check Walnut hill and Molino Both had 7 or 8 EMTs in the Vol. Ranks. Please tell me what a BLS Crew Paid can do more than a Vol. BLS crew. The Vol. Take great pride in the fact that they have the same certificates and training as the Paid Crews.
7. There will be a Tax increase due to this change high speed 419 and 1819 was combined. So your C shift was a New Paid Crew or Some ones getting a lot of over time. There will be a Tax hike in the fire tax to pay for this. Public safety has been saying they have nothing in the budget to begin with.
8. Surprisingly when E6 Dose this High speed multi-company training there is pre planning and they have a crew stand in when they go to E3 apparently the North end is unable to “Cooperate with their Vol. To do this training” and they just leave their district unguarded. Don’t worry we the Vol. Will respond and help our Community and cancel you so you can go back to your high speed training.
9. Um Remember your make sure your comment is factual what station is hurting. Molino and Mcdavid always have a truck out with 3 with officers POVing and Walnut hill has more people on a call than any station in the county. The only station that was hurting was cantonment and they are 24hr paid now so ?
10. Here’s the deal brother if you don’t have a Paramedic on board then we don’t need you. Honestly unless it’s a Delta Call we don’t need the paramedic we package and wait for EMS to transport. I know you are a Paid guy worried about the future, Trust me eventually your kind will be all over the north end. Public safety is going to do whatever they want anyway. All the north end is to the county is a place to send Staff to ride out their last years till they retire.
I enjoy our Conversations
Station 9 is really good about getting a truck out in a timely manner and just about always with a full crew. McDavid dose not need E519 but it is what is good for the community its not all about Century. What the county is trying to do is cover part of Molino and the rest of north Escambia. The cantonment crew is becoming a busy engine company. So they cannot always run to Molino. There is not enough call to justify another paid crew and if they did everyone would complain about there fire taxes going up. By the way E519 rarely responds to McDavid.
Ok they wana place 519 on mcdavid well let’s see what does mcdavid have as far as commercial places? NONE! We have schools, prison, and business up here. As soon as the tones drop they get ready and within a minute or so they are responding. If they move to station 9 then they will have the same response time but longer to get there. Station 9 is pretty good about responding in there district but if they don’t in a certain time frame they will dispatch 519 or they will put there self enroute. Yes they go to flomaton a lot but we also receive mutual aid from them to when needed. The volunteers in century work for a living they cant respond during the day if they are at work. 519 can make it to walnut hill in bout 10 mins mcdavid bout 5. They say they will go to molino to well I see it like this they took 1819 from there to make a 24 at cantonment well they should have left them there and hired more. That’s wat cantoment is for to respond to molino to. I wouldn’t even stress over this because the county is goen to do wat they want to weather we like or or not or even have a say so in it.
Just another thing to get rid of in Century
@Oversight, the arrangement you speak of with the sheriff’s department expired several years ago. Century was paying to keep a deputy within the city limits at all times. Century no longer pays the $200,000 a year fee, and the deputies work the entire north end of the county, none are specifically assigned to stay within the city limits anymore.
1. your taxes will not increase; 519 will be 919; same 3 guys same engine no tax increase
2. Vol FF’s from McDavid can respond with an add’l engine and also ride with the career crew
3. Vols FF’s are paid a stipend at the end of the month if certain req’s are met; nobody does this for free anymore FYI
4. all the numbers are nice but that argument has been settled long ago; no add’l taxes were added/needed to move an engine company
5. a “regional response” area is what the county is trying to accomplish
6. a fire crew has EMT’s aboard and first responds to assist ECEMS with pt care
7. Cantonment has 3 shifts of 3 FF’s for 24/7 coverage; no increase in taxes
8. multi-company training is a requirement; so travel to other stations is necessary
9. daytime response is hurting due to most vol FF’s are employed and trying to earn a living
10. please make sure what you comment is factual; Lt’s are not necessarily paramedics or vice versa and learn how the system really works prior to posting non-factual ideology or a biased opinion
Either way, Bluff Springs is covered. A little slower getting to us, but it will help lots of others
Just a little information, I live in the Century city limits, I pay almost $200 a year in fire tax on two places, every penny of it goes to ESCAMBIA COUNTY, NOT 1 CENT TO CENTURY. So if you don’t want to serve Century, sent all of the tax money that is collected in the city back to Century.
I support this move. I don’t understand why the volunteers and some of the public are so upset. It’s not like the county is adding a paid crew, they are just moving it to a more strategic location. I trust that Chief Grace should know more about where crews would be more utilized than anyone on here. By the way, some on here aren’t very informed on the difference between volunteers and paid fire crews. Volunteers are only required a Firefighter 1 certification, where paid career firefighters are required a Firefighter 2 certification, a difference in over 200 hours of initial training. So to say volunteers are held to the same standards are simply not true.
>>>Keep our Fire dept in Century.
No one is going to take away your fire department. You’ll still have your volunteer department.
We’ll just be moving our paid crew to Molino where they can better serve the tax paying citizens of Escambia County.
If Century wants a paid fire department, Century can pay for one like any other town.
Activated Fire alarms are only a Single Engine Company Alarm now just FYI since you want to Correct People.
I Don’t think thats a good idea, to move our Fire Dept to Mc David, we need them close to century do to House fires in the winter. alot of Homes here have to heat the best they can. it would be faster for the the firefighters to get to a House fire Quicker. Keep our Fire dept in Century.
Sorry ahead of time for the Novel
Is there a problem with Mcdavid Response time as a VoI. Fire Station. They have always gotten a truck out and always been there for their District; if it isn’t Broke why fix it. Yes Moving 519 to Mcdavid would centrally locate them for a few more calls but do we not get income from Century Paying for these men to provide Fire Coverage. Yeah Century might be behind on some rent but that’s the landlords fault for letting that happen. Every time you hear anything about a New Paid Crew or Additional Units your fire tax is what’s going to Increase.
I’m Pretty Sure Everyone wants a Paid crew in every district but who is going to pay the Increase Taxes it’s going to take to Pay These Men( Hint* YOU ARE). The average Crew is 2 firemen and a Paramedic Lt. The Fire Fighters are paid $25,979.20 – $29,848.00 annually and the Lt. Start out at $40,352.00 – $46,404.80 annually. You looking at annually just in wages $92,310 that’s not including full benefit package that you paying for. Cantonment has 2 Full Fire Crews since they are now 24 hour so you’re talking $180,000 yearly people just in salary. Insurance on these guys is a nightmare. An EMS Unit that is already station in your area with a Paid Fire Crew is a waste of resources on the North end. The Vol. Fire Crews are certified to the same standards as the fire man you are paying for other than the Paramedic (if he isn’t out sick or working Overtime out at the beach). Once Ems arrives there isn’t any need for that Paid Fire Crew. Paid Crews are great when you don’t have Vol. (i.e. Cantonment). But for Districts like Molino, Walnut Hill, and Mcdavid who have Men and Women dedicated to Helping their Community a paid crew is not always the answer. Why would you turn away a Licensed Mechanic that wants to fix your car for free for a Mechanic that you have to pay for?
And Since I’m on my Friday Morning Rant I want a Paid Crew that stays in it district unless it’s called to an emergency. I am Tired of seeing E419 Going to Mcdavid for Training or running to Ensley’s fire house to hang out. Your Responsibility is your District not Leaving your Primary Area so they can cut on a car or something of that nature. Train at your station that’s what the County Provides each of them for. I’m tired of hearing we will be out of district Delayed Response. If it was your Mother/ Father / Child/ Friend that is dyeing you would want your HELP WHERE IT SHOULD BE. E519 you are not needed at the Hardees in Flomaton trust me if anything you should be eating a salad from the pictures I have seen on here.
By the way Mom of 3. When there is a fire alarm or suspected structure fire or a structure fire in general. Two stations have to show up. You need 2 trucks maybe more depending on what it is. And they still have to investigate even if it is an alarm. Fire departments are here for more than just medical reasons. If there was a building on fire , there’s a chance that someone could be stuck in there that they have to rescue. All kinds of things. If Flomaton needs Century to respond , then you shouldn’t throw a hissy fit. Someone can come to Century and help on another call. Or even if it is an alarm. They can respond from Flomaton. You have got to take in the big picture and not be so self centered pretty much saying “we need them here , not over there” cause you know what. The day you throw a fit about it , could be the day that they almost didn’t make it home. Or they day they saved someone out of a burning building.
per mom of 3: i believe flomaton answers calls to century when called also. if you move centurys crew to mcdavid there are gonna be times when flomatons could get to a fire quicker. it could work both ways.
I say move them to McDavid and cut out all of the responses to Flomaton. As a Florida taxpayer, I expect my fire truck and my ambulance to be available for my mother’s heart attack, not in Flomaton.
Yesterday, Century’s paid crew and Flomaton were requested to Flomaton for a “structure fire” at Turtle Point. The officer from Flomaton requesting them on the radio failed to mention it was just an alarm, not a real structure fire. Once again, taking too many resources from our Florida county for a bogus kid pulled the fire alarm call.
“”"I’m all in favor of having a paid fire crew that goes on a call every two to three days.”"
Sarcasm aside, it’s Monday-Friday, so 160 calls per 250 days equals one call about every 1.5 days
If no one answered the 160 calls, what would the body count be?
We, as taxpayers, pay for an Emergency Operations Center that is really, for real, used on an actual activation once every few years. But it’s sure worth it when we need it.
I’m all in favor of having a paid fire crew that goes on a call every two to three days.
Our Molino volunteers are great and we love them! But this would give them a break. They ran double time covering for Cantonment for a long time, and they would use the backup of the paid crew during the day. Now stop taking our ambulance out of Molino and night.
Works for me! I listen to the scanner most of the day and it seems like they can go a week or two without getting call. Walnut HIll and Molino seem to get calls every day, and this would allow the paid guys to back them up. No point in Florida taxpayers in paying them to just sit in a station and go to Flomaton every once and a while.
Makes perfect since to me. I think it’s a fabulous idea!
Here we go again.
If the county tax payers can get a better bang for its buck by moving the paid fire crew, then do it. Century is it own taxing authority. So if the town demands fire service, then the town needs to pay up for it like many other do. I give you Flomaton as an example. The town has its own full time police department, unlike Century which continues to use the sheriff’s office. If I remember, the town gets this service for free and it still doesn’t pay the $200k annual fee. The county administrator was going to enforce the fee several years ago, but I’m not sure if that actually happened.