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By a five to three vote, the board of
directors for the Wake Forest Fire
Department voted Tuesday night not to
ask the town to undertake a study about
the feasibility of making the
independent fire department part of the
town government.
The Wake Forest Town Board
had informally agreed during its January
planning retreat that it would fund the
feasibility study. That was based on
assurances, though no formal proposal,
by board members and Fire Chief Jerry
Swift that the fire board wanted the
town to take over the department’s
management.
Randy Bright, who was named
to the fire board last month to replace
Lyman Franklin, made the motion. “I
personally feel this board can run this
fire department better than the town
can. I think we need to make a
decision.” Bright also asked if the
study would show the benefits to the
fire department.
Richard Stinnett, Ricky
Wright and Ken Capps voted against the
motion, and President Stanley Denton,
Bob Bridges, Don Griesedieck and James
Holding voted yes.
“I just hope you thought
this over,” Stinnett said after the
vote.
“The town can do a study
anytime they want,” Bright said.
“They won’t,” Stinnett said.
“You just came on tonight. There are a
lot of things going on.” Before the
vote, Stinnett said his wife, Town
Commissioner Margaret Stinnett, had said
the town government was not sure it
could handle incorporating the fire
department.
Wright said the Wake Forest
department has a hard time competing for
firefighters who can receive better
retirement benefits if they are employed
by a municipality.
When the vote was taken, the
board had been in an hour-long closed
session about personnel and land
acquisition. The discussion when the
meeting was open again, however, sounded
as though the board members may have
been talking about becoming a town
department while the door was closed.
The department has made an
offer and the offer has been accepted to
purchase 4 acres along Forestville Road
from Joel Keith, a former fire board
member, for the southside fire station.
The land lies on the west side of the
road just south of the Thornrose
subdivision.
Final purchase hinges on the
town agreeing to annex and rezone the
land, and Griesedieck said attorney
James Warren is working on both items.
The department is also
eyeing land for two more stations, one
to the east on Wait Avenue (N.C. 98) and
one to the west along Capital Boulevard.
Swift asked the Wake County
fire apparatus committee Tuesday to fund
the 3,000-gallon tanker he wants to
fight fires in county subdivisions where
there are no hydrants.
About 15 people from the
Waterfall Plantation and Thompson Mill
subdivisions and Commissioner Stinnett
supported Swift at the meeting. The
subdivisions have seen two homes
destroyed by fire in the last year: on
Welcome Drive in March of last year and
on Mica Mine Lane within the last month.
A homeowners committee led
by Dean Tryon and Mart Pattison has been
investigating why these fires occurred
and how to prevent future fires.
For the Stony Hill and Wake
Forest firemen fighting the Mica Mine
fire, Pattison said, her husband saw
that “several times they did not have
water in their hoses.” Swift sent out an
e-mail the day after the fire to the
committee that said there were some
procedural issues at the fire scene but
lack of water was a factor.
Pattison said the committee
strongly supports Swift’s request for
the 3,000-gallon tanker, a request
scaled back from his initial request,
sharply denied, for a 5,000-gallong
tanker and a 2,500-gallon pumper tanker.
After Tuesday’s meeting,
Pattison said, “I came away feeling not
very encouraged.” However, the committee
plans to meet with county fire officials
and continue their efforts for better
fire protection.
Swift said he thought the
presentation went well.
At the close of Tuesday
night’s fire board meeting, Swift said
they have identified bridges that will
not carry the weight of the new ladder
truck: two on Jones Dairy Road, one on
Oak Street and one on Oak Grove Church
Road. “The same bridges we couldn’t get
across with that ladder truck, we’ll not
be able to get across with that
(3,000-gallon) tanker. Everything
running west we’re safe on.”
The two bridges in Jones
Dairy have been slated for replacement
by the state Department of
Transportation. |
