Chiefland Fire Chief James Harris listens as commissioners ask questions of him.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Chiefland Fire Rescue is underfunded and undermanned and gets little assistance from rural county fire stations that too often have no firefighters on duty, city commissioners learned Monday.
Commissioners instructed City Manager Mary Ellzey to contact the county to find out if the city could piggyback on its county fire assessment program and impose a similar assessment within the city limits.
City Commissioner Rollin Hudson poses a question to Fire Chief James Harris.
If piggybacking doesn’t work out, the city may have to hire a consultant to study how a city assessment could be imposed and how much it would generate for fire funding.
Ellzey will report back on her findings. Commissioner Tim West agreed to accompany Ellzey to the meeting with county officials but only if he is fully informed of all the facts before they arrange a meeting.
The city considered imposing a similar fire assessment a decade ago but the board looked at the cost to city property owners and decided against it. Commissioner Rollin Hudson said commissioners will face difficult moments if they impose an assessment and hear pleas from elderly widows who can’t afford to pay the costs.
The Levy County Commission imposes a fire assessment in unincorporated areas of the county and distributes a portion of the money to cities to pay for fire protection outside city boundaries.
Fire Chief James Harris said the county is facing similar problems as Chiefland in recruiting volunteer firefighters unwilling to go through hundreds of hours of state mandated training to earn meager wages.
Fire Department Underfunding
Harris said the money the city commission provides his department annually is only about $25,000 to $30,000 more than was allocated to Chiefland Fire Rescue when he first was hired as the chief in 2010.
He said frequently his department goes to fires with two firefighters on board the engine, even though the state recommends four firefighters at every fire. The state wants two firefighters standing outside burning building as backup for the two going in the structure. Harris said firefighters can go into a burning building to rescue a person even if there are no backup personnel outside.
“Where we’re at right now, is personnel; the personnel are what we need now and we need it for safety reasons,” he said.
Harris said his department has set up a tent for recruiting volunteers at every city festival and has yet to sign up one person. He said state requirements for volunteer firefighters requiring several hundred hours of training discourage people from applying for a job that means risking their lives for almost no pay.
Unmanned County Stations
Dwayne King, a fire captain under Harris, cited statistics showing rural fire departments in the county are often unstaffed.
Fire Capt. Dwayne King said rural county-operated fire departments are frequently unmanned.
He said between the dates of May 1 and July 22 this year the county’s Rosewood Fire Station wasn’t staffed for 62 days; the county’s Fowlers Bluff fire station wasn’t staffed 70 days and the county’s Morriston station wasn’t staffed 34 days.
When those facilities aren’t staffed, Chiefland Fire Rescue must cover the calls under an agreement with the Levy County Commission. Lack of staffing also means Chiefland has no backup from neighboring county departments on its calls in many cases.
“This has become a daily issue. It’s a staffing issue,” King said.
Harris said he wasn’t criticizing the county.
“We are in no way shape or form throwing rocks at the county. They are in the same boat as we are,” Harris said.
Harris said he attended paramedic school with County Public Safety Director Mitch Harrell in the late 1980’s and considers him to be an excellent department head for the county. He said Harrell works well with the city.
Harris turned down a small financial allocation from the county commission a couple of months ago. The county tied strings to the money saying it could only be used to purchase equipment on a one-time basis. Harris said the money wouldn’t help with his department with its two main problems – lack of funding and volunteers.
Fighting Fires Alone
Fire Capt. Daniel “Cal” Morgan presented commissioners with a report he drafted describing the severe manpower shortages the fire department faces.
As captain, he said, he has worked alone three times at the city fire department because no was available to assist him.
He said the Chiefland fire district covers 130 square miles. The department runs an average of 1,600 calls a year.
“When other stations fail to respond, we cover around 200 square miles (sometimes alone),” he said.
He has responded to structure fires alone. He recalled once incident when he was alone and was forced to stretch the fire hose to protect a two story house from catching fire while vinyl siding melted on nearby burning barn that was fully involved.
Morgan said most part-time volunteers have full-time jobs at other fire departments. He said they come in late or leave early for their full-time job. Sometimes the part-timers get “mandatory” overtime and cancel their shift on a minute’s notice.
Training Ground
Numerous times there have been no part-time firefighters for a scheduled period due to holidays, family commitments, hunting season or loss of part-timers, which happens on a regular basis, he said.
“We are a training ground for new firefighters. Once they are trained, they get hired elsewhere and we start all over again,” Morgan said.
Harris added that his department isn’t equipped to fight fires in the many strip malls in Chiefland. He said those strip malls, including Chiefland Shopping Center, don’t have roof fire stoppers or irrigation systems due to their age.
He said the loss of those private facilities to a fire would work at hardship on the city due to a decrease in its tax base and the loss of jobs.
Harris said the city needs to sit down and start talking about fire protection and how they want to address the issue in the future. He said a five-year plan is needed to begin increasing fire funding on an annual basis until the department can operate more effectively.
Harris said the city has a million dollar department that operates on half that much money, but he said it relies on grants as an important source of funding, and grants can’t sustain the department.
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City of Chiefland Regular Meeting July 22, 2019; Posted July 22, 2019
