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“The
volunteer ranks are booming,” Fire Chief Jerry Swift told the people at the
Wake Forest Fire Department’s annual meeting Sept. 27.
There
were 30 volunteer firefighters last year; this year there are 40 with several
more who have applied.
The
department has also grown from 26 to 40 paid staff, nine of them added on Sept.
10. Those new recruits are working their way through 500 hours of firefighting
training plus basic emergency medical technician training.
With
the growth plus some retirements, Swift has been able to promote people. His
staff now consists of:
- David
Davis as deputy chief,
- Waylon
Holbrook as training chief,
- Erick
Mohn and Greg Hockaday as the current captains for the A shift, Reginald
Rogers and Waylon Holbrook as the current captains for the B shift and
Daryl Cash and Bo Medlin as current captains for the C shift.
- Wayne
Burton, Rusty Hurst and Tony Pack as the newly-named captains.
Swift
and his staff are working to locate a fire station within a mile and a half, a
five-minute response time, of every occupied building in the fire district,
which includes the town of Wake Forest plus the surrounding area designated as
the Wakette Fire District.
The
department has just purchased four acres on Forestville Road for the third
station, paying Joel Keith, a former director for the department, $400,000.
They hope to use the existing brick house as a station and build a garage or
shed to house the truck.
“We
hope to be there in March or April if the existing building pans out,” Swift
said. In the meantime, he will “float” Engine #63 along Forestville Road, fully
staffed, during the daytime. The firefighters will test hydrants, paint them,
do other routine work and meet residents along the road.
The
department has just signed an agreement for two and a half acres just off Wake
Union Church Road. The land for this fourth station is being donated by
developer Jim Adams and Weingarten Realty Investments, who are planning to turn
the former Parker-Hannifin plant site into Wake Forest Towne Center.
Swift
also ticked off the improvements, upgrades and acquisitions of the last year.
Those
include color coding helmets to allow instant identification as a chief, a
captain or a firefighter at a fire scene. The department has replaced all the
helmets and boots, which were out of date.
They
have purchased new hoses and connectors and purchased Class 8 foam, which
clings to surfaces and smothers a fire.
They
have added four defibrillators to the existing four, and all eight are in
vehicles. “We had seven cardiac-arrest saves last year,” Swift said.
Emphasis
throughout the year has been on training – “We have been a training department
always.” – recruitment, retention, adding equipment and planning for the
future.
The
new equipment includes a brush truck paid for by Wake County and a trailer for
the ATV.
Thirty
firefighters have been through the swift-water classes at Nantahala, the
department does its own in-house rookie training, and a new training is for
technical rescues. “We see a lot of entrapments,” Swift said, adding there will
be a lot more if a hurricane strikes locally and causes flash floods.
Swift
said there were more than 2,200 calls last year for the two existing stations.
“We’re right at two thousand right now.”
There
was an unexplained mix-up Wednesday, Sept. 26, when a house at 829 S. Main St.
caught fire. Swift said they were dispatched to North Main Street, not South
Main, and were searching all over the wrong street for the fire. The rental
house owned by SK Perry LLC, Kelly Perry of Wake Forest, was a total loss.
This
week Swift said they still have not determined a cause for the fire or for the
dispatching error.
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