Improvements to fire stations under way

Officials: Upgrades will help attract volunteers

Gina Vasselli / The Item Sumter fire officials hope the improvements to the fire stations will help keep the volunteers they have and recruit new ones.

By GINA VASSELLI
Item Staff Writer
gvasselli@theitem.com

Two bright green fire trucks take up most of the room in the Sumter County Concord fire "station."

But that "station" is really more like a garage with a bathroom.

When the volunteer firefighters have to conduct training or hold a meeting there, they move the fire trucks through the big metal doors and set up some folding tables.

"It's hard to motivate somebody to come when this is all they've got to come to," said Bud Ivey, the battalion chief, gesturing to the tables propped against the rear wall.

But alongside one wall, a new training room and kitchen are being constructed, thanks to money from the Local Option Sales Tax.

In November, Sumter residents voted to approve funding for 16 projects costing around $75 million, including $3 million for rural fire station repairs and construction.

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At least two of those fire station projects are under construction and several are just about to begin, which is good news for the volunteer firefighters who have to spend at least 20 to 30 hours a month in those stations.

Ivey and Doug Mathis, assistant fire chief, hope the improvements to the stations will help keep the volunteers they have and recruit new ones.

Mathis said the number of volunteer firefighters has been dropping in Sumter, and nationally.

He said in 2004 there 260 to 280 volunteers in the county, and now there are half as many; around 140.

"We need help. We do at every station," he said.

Ivey said some of the stations manned by volunteers have particular trouble getting firefighters between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., while many people are at work.

"We're hurting," he said.

Mathis said the station improvements themselves won't necessarily improve fire protection, but if the department can attract more volunteer firefighters to man stations in rural areas, then that would improve the protection.

"We'll eventually get more volunteers if we have something nice for them to come to," Mathis said.

And he said volunteers save the county about $3 million a year in salaries alone.

"We couldn't do it without them. We definitely could not operate without the volunteers," he said.

Improvements to the Pinewood and Concord stations are under way, and improvements to the Byrd and Cherryvale stations should begin soon.

Mathis said he knows some people were confused about how it was decided which stations needed to be improved or built.

He said it wasn't purely based on the number of calls. The Mayesville station, which is getting a $15,000 renovation to install new doors, new heaters and improve the kitchen, only had about 30 calls in 2008, but the Dubose Siding station had 144 calls in 2008 and is also getting a $15,000 renovation.

Mathis said the distance from a station that is manned 24 hours a day played a factor in the decision.

"How would you like to be pinned in a car ... knowing help is 30 to 40 minutes away?" Mathis asked.

He said in parts of the county, "We need to be self-sufficient."

If you want to be a volunteer firefighter, contact the volunteer fire station nearest you or the Sumter Fire Department at (803) 436-2600.

Contact Staff Writer Gina Vasselli at gvasselli@theitem.com or (803) 774-1214.