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Bergosh Wants To Add Paid Crew To Beulah Fire Station, Grow Volunteer Roster
March 16, 2021
Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh plans to bring forward a proposal to add full time employees to support the volunteer firefighters at the Beulah Station of Escambia Fire Rescue.
An Escambia Fire Rescue analysis, completed at Bergosh’s request, estimates the bottom line cost at about $220,000 per year for a three-person fire company in Beulah for nine hours a day, Monday through Friday. The crew would consist of one lieutenant and two firefighters, one of which would be a paramedic to provide Advanced Life Support on medical emergencies.
The current average EMS response time to Beulah is about 15 minutes, according to the ECFR analysis.
Bergosh said that even with the paid daytime crew, volunteer firefighters would reman a crucial part of the fire service in Beulah.
“I have strongly supported the volunteers at Station 2 in Beulah since I have lived here — and I still do now, more than ever,” Bergosh wrote on his blog. “These men and women are excellent and they do a great job. These volunteers will soon have a new, modern fire facility which is being designed right now, and for which the board has committed a total of $4 million to build.”
With tremendous growth in Beulah, and the upcoming development of OLF-8, the District 1 commissioner said improvements are necessary, and he intends to find funding.
“I believe we may be able to fund the first two years of this additional, enhanced coverage for Beulah utilizing Federal Rescue Plan funding; eventually, as OLF-8 gets developed, I support adding impact fees, a TIFF, or an enhanced MSBU (or some combination of these three) — only on the developments permitted there (on OLF-8) in order to offset this additional $220,000 in costs thereby eliminating the need to raise the county-wide MSBU. I do not and will not support raising the MSBU county-wide,” he said.
Bergosh stressed that the Beulah Fire Station will remain a volunteer station, and he is working to grow the volunteer ranks.
“I am also, simultaneously working a plan to bolster and grow the roster of volunteers at Beulah. That plan is already underway.”
The Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue is staffed much like Bergosh’s plan for Beulah. Century has a paid firefighter crew on duty from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday-Friday. Volunteers provide coverage nights and weekends.
Comments
12 Responses to “Bergosh Wants To Add Paid Crew To Beulah Fire Station, Grow Volunteer Roster”
fie tax needs to be raised, especially commercial in this area. new developments going up all over Beulah. new firehouse needed and another substation between here and cantonment for your 9 hour crew. Station 2 is not sufficient for housing personnel, it is run down, needs to be able to house 2 companies full time. plus an EMS unit..
If you truly want to solve the problem and do it in the fairest manner, then there is only ONE solution…and it begins with doing away with the MSBU method of raising money for fire services.
The MSBU is the MOST regressive of any property taxation as it shifts the largest percentage of the burden to the people with the least ability to pay the cost. It eats away at the homestead exemption quietly until there is no benefit to having a homestead exemption on your property. This affects not only people with homes valued under $75,000 but also unfairly shifts the burden to seniors, retirees, others on fixed incomes.
In blunt terms…the better off and rich get a free ride on the backs of the people with lower incomes.
It’s also the type of taxation that’s the easiest abused by the powers-that-be continuing to treat it as a piggy bank to be raided at will. “Just raise the fire fee…it’s only another $25 or $50″ has become the BCC cry ever since year #3 of the fire fee being instituted.
The fire service fee should be a tax based on a millage rate and NOT a “flat fee per property” method. I’m sure the people with new $200k plus homes and the owners of million-dollar condos at the beach would disagree that they should have to pay more than someone with a 25-year-old mobile home and lot or a $50k house in any one of the many older subdivisions in Pensacola…but would you really expect them to EVER think they should pay their fair share for anything?
Jeff Bergosh understands these issues and it’s one of the reasons he is so adamantly against EVER raising the MSBU again.
After seeing this article and doing some research of the ECFR services. It looks as if there are many issues in the ECFR and a Major change needed to both the leadership of the ECFR Management and the way the BCC looks at all Public Safety as a whole.
At this time seeking a New Fire Chief maybe a good thing, but how much change will they be allowed to make and how will the BCC and County Administration support a new Fire Chief to fix all the issues? As it seem in the past few new chief’s were hired only for them to see what they are told never happens and move on as well. Why would any one seek to come here to take over a system that has all the issues that ECFR has. in Manpower, Aged Trucks, Poor Budget and so on..
Can anyone blame any Firefighter for leaving for better pay and surely better benefits. Has any one in the County looked into what it really costs to hire new Firefighters only to have them move to a better paying department in a few years.. We all have left Jobs for a better position to provide for our families.
Looks like the BCC has been trying to run the ECFR since 2008 and since then been having issues going on. May be time to do the right thing and have a Professional Consulting Service come in and see what has to be done to make the ECFR a properly working Department in the County. Yes it will cost money but having outsider taking a in depth look and follow their recommendations will save money in the long run for the County.. .
I feel the time for the citizens to come out and let the commissioner how they feel that the Public Safety is in need of an overhaul and a budget to support the needs of the ECFR not just when a crises arise and do a quick fix.
Citizens Safety is nothing to be taken lightly as it seems to be now.
If rampant development is so great, how come it costs the rest of us so much money?All the new development should be paying for the necessary improvements to infrastructure and services that are required to serve them. Look across the river at Santa Rosa County, they recently put a $5000 impact fee on new residential building permits for school infrastructure. The builders and developers don’t like it, but it hasn’t slowed new construction down. But I am afraid that would not work in Escambia County because the BCC seems to be loyal only to the Fat Cat builders and developers.
If I beloved county comm really
cared about full time fire protection
for the follks of Escambia county,
they would take a 10% paycut and
use the money for fire protection,
You want see a commersion out riding
with them to see how bad this county needs
full time firefighters
@Joe
I guess you will be applying for a job bagging groceries. Good luck!!!!
On a more serious side I have said many times raise the amount for fire service protection to cover a paid fire department and be done with it once and for all. When I see a fireman I thank them for doing a great job and ask why they became a fireman all have told me that’s what they have always wanted to do. That includes you ladies also. My question to Joe is why did you become a fireman if you are one? You had to know the pay scale.
Nobody needs a first responder till they’re the ones calling 911 with an emergency. There’s no one whining here about it. Just bringing light to the real issues we’ve all known about but continue to ignore. Just sayin’
I honestly get tired of people complaining about other people complaining about public servants being underpaid for their training and job description. If it really is that bad, just keep scrolling. Quit whining about it.
(Also really tired of the phrase “Just Sayin’”)
I honestly get tired of seeing the but I only make 10 an hour. If it was truly that bad then why on earth would you stay? Find a job that provides a better salary for your family. Quit whining about it.
So, those people who buy at OLF will be double taxed for
Fire service. Kind of a disincentive, isn’t it?
- As much as I agree with this. It’s time to fix the real problem and not just put a bandaid on it. Were always so reactive instead of proactive. Your fire department can’t even fill career spots because no one is applying, no one wants to become a firefighter for 10 dollars an hour. We pull people out of burning buildings and pull them out of vehicle wrecks for 10 dollars an hour where I can go bag groceries and make 13 dollars an hour doing that. We don’t go to the fire academy or go to emt school/ vocational college to make 10 dollars an hr. The only way to make extra money is on overtime which is more time away from family/ home and less rest on a job that we have to survive for 30 years we’re killing ourselves our backs, our bodies for a starting pay of 10 dollars an hour. You have 11 openings right now on the career side and now you want to take another 3 men from the roster? Where are you going to pull them from and create more vacancies else where on the roster. It makes no sense. You need to fix the real problem because your public safety is bleeding while the county continues to grow and expand. We’re losing firefighters & paramedics who live in Escambia county to nearby departments such as midway and the city of Pensacola, south Walton, Walton county. I know of several firefighters from Miami that we hired a while back that are looking at going back home because Miami dade fire department is about to open up to hiring because we as a department and county simply can not compete or retain our employees. All we do is train our firefighters & paramedics to be the best and gain experience then send them off else where to make more money or be compensated better. Experience matters at the end of the day you can not replace experience. Escambia county should not be a stepping stone for firefighters. For the amount of area we cover and the amount of calls we go to as a department there’s no reason Escambia county fire rescue shouldn’t be the best department between Tallahassee all the way to Mobile, Alabama. In less than 10 years or within 10 years your going to have a mass exit/ retirement of almost 25 firefighters/ chiefs & lieutenants. How do you plan to combat that issue or are you just going to leave for the next commissioner or next fire Chief to deal with? I appreciate the positive step forward towards expanding fire coverage and seeing the need for manpower and more firefighters. But we need to stop operating like we’re still in 1990 it’s 2021. We need funding, we need manpower cause the growth isn’t stopping and the citizens deserve the best ALS and the best fire coverage they’re tax dollars can buy them.
There are a little over 14k households (maybe more if the data I saw was incorrect) up there. Hit them with an add on fire tax, $30 or so… 24-7 professional fire protection. It would be worth it.