Bishopville seeks to reduce fire response time

By RANDY BURNS
Item Staff Writer
rburns@theitem.com

BISHOPVILLE — At least for now, a firefighter will be on duty overnight at Lee County Fire Station No. 1 on East Church St.

Fire Chief Mike Bedenbaugh discussed the department's plans to improve service to areas outside the city of Bishopville at a meeting of Lee County Council's Public Safety Committee on Thursday.

The Red Hill station on McCaskill Road and the Black River station in St. Charles will have full-time firefighters on duty from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Bedenbaugh said.

"We want to give the best response time we can throughout the county," he said. "The Red Hill station is in the upper area of the county, and it can respond to a wide area from Spring Hill to Turkey Creek. The Black River station is centrally located for the lower end of the county."

The firefighters cannot be assigned to the rural fire stations overnight because the Bishopville station is the only one of the nine stations with overnight accommodations, he said.

The on-duty firefighter assigned to the Black River station on U.S. 401 will spend the night at the Bishopville station.

For the past five years, the city has been paying the county $135,000 annually as part of the fire service agreement. In return, Bishopville residents were guaranteed their Insurance Service Office rating would remain a 4.

The five-year agreement with the city ended Tuesday because the city cannot afford it, City Administrator Gregg McCutchen said. And now the fire department is currently operating at a deficit of about $135,000.

Despite the loss of revenue, however, the county is not reducing personnel or other resources at this time, County Administrator Bobby Boland said.

"We hope to get some additional revenue," said Boland, "so we won't have to make any cuts."

Boland said the county will "spread its resources" throughout the county to provide equal service to all residents. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, there will not be a firefighter on duty at the Bishopville station. However, Bedenbaugh and Lt. Brandon Holloman work next door at the Emergency Operations Center, and many of the 87 volunteers live in Bishopville and the surrounding area.

But Bedenbaugh said with no one being at the Church Street station, someone will have to drive to the station to pick up the fire truck, and that will take a few minutes.

Still, the chief thinks response time for most structure fires in the Bishopville area will range from four to eight minutes.

Most county residents have an ISO rating of 6, and some who live more than five miles from a fire station have a 9 rating. Insurance premiums are lower with the lower ISO ratings, officials said.

"In nine months to a year, we might be able to lower ISO ratings in some parts of the county," Boland said. "We hope to be able to reduce some of the 9 ratings to a 6."

County officials anticipate that the ISO ratings for Bishopville residents will go up from a 4 to a 6.

Lee County Councilman Travis Windham, who is an independent insurance agent, said most Bishopville residents can expect insurance to increase anywhere from $100 to $300 annually. Insurance premiums typically range from $500 to $600, he said.

District 7 Councilman Sam McCutchen, who is chairman of the public safety committee, said about one-third of property owners in his district have an ISO rating of 9.

"Response time is what you want to look at," he said.