Coordinate our fire protection 3/18/2009 3:52 PM Aiken County is the size of Rhode Island and has 22 volunteer fire departments protecting the lives and property of its residents. What it does not have is anyone who coordinates the efforts of those departments.
Fire protection is unlike law enforcement in Aiken County which has a sheriff overseeing that side of public safety. The many fire departments are entities unto themselves who answer only to their chiefs and their customers. This system has worked adequately for the residents of Aiken County, but fire protection could be enhanced with some type of county oversight to see that residents of all areas of the county receive equitable protection.
Aiken County needs to consider creating a position which would oversee all of the fire protection needs of the county, assisting with grants for equipment as well as coordinating fire services. This would undoubtedly create some turmoil among the chiefs who are all protective of their turf. That is understandable. They have worked hard to build their departments and have worked even harder to get the funding which keeps the equipment operating and the doors to the station house open. County oversight would not supplant the chiefs of the volunteer departments, it would allow them to do their jobs even better.
If Aiken County were to start from scratch, today's mix of separate volunteer fire departments would not be the model used. Why not bring our fire services into the 21st century model of Aiken County by having a unifying individual at the county level work with all the departments for the betterment of the all residents?
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Comment Title: New Direction
Why not have a full time county fire department with one Chief. Many of the volunteer firemen could take the full time jobs. All other counties in this state the size of Aiken has this. If I were the Sheriff I would tell the council along with all the Fire Chiefs to take the fire dispatcher out of the Sheriff's Office and do it yourself. Let them see how they could manage it then he would only have to worry about getting law enforcement to calls and not anything else.
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Posted by: On: Sunday, March 22, 2009 3:51 PM
Comment Title: County Fire Service
We can have a County fire service without it being under Emergency Services. TOne way is for the volunteers to merge and form one or two large dept. Of course those dept within towns would have to get permission from the town councilas. The other is for the County to form one. Councial can do this without putting it under Emergency Services. If you look at the study the County did a few years ago one outcome was to hire a Fire Coordinator, problem is Councial has not implemented any recommanadation from this study. We need NEW Councial members!!! TThe Fire Chief don't want tog ive up thiere power and the residance don't question what is going on or demand better. Also the Sheriff is seen as always right and has so much political clout that no one will call him out or run against him. We need to changes.
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Posted by: On: Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:03 PM
Comment Title: FFMedic
The problem with creating one "district," as so many people see as a solution to a problem they don't understand, is that even if it falls under the county, it would come under the direction of Aiken County Emergency Services, and we all know what a grandjob they are doing of managing EMS in Aiken County. The whole issue that was proposed in the meeting Tuesday night was the ineffectiveness of dispatch in Aiken Co. There have been times that a department that should have been toned out wasn't until requested by the proper fire department. There is also the issue of First Responders in this county. There is no support for them from the county, financially or logistically. If anyone thinks that putting the fire departments in this county under the control of ccounty gov't is a good idea, then if it should ever happen, I hope they get what they wished for.
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Posted by: Concerned Citizen On: Thursday, March 19, 2009 8:48 AM
Comment Title: Missing the Point
I am sure this editorial is a result of the County Council meeting the other day. Mark Redd of the Wagener Fire Department was informing the Council about a problem with the dispatching of calls. Regardless of what Sheriff Hunt presents such as manuals, there is a problem. I have heard the dispatchers on numerous occasions tone out the wrong Fire Department wasting [precious time. I've heard the dispatchers forget to even tone out anyone at times only to be asked minutes later to tone out. Again, a waste of precious time.
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