East Texas

By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer

More than a year has passed since the formation of Smith County Emergency Services District and the new taxing entity has collected around $3.9 million dollars from Smith County residents, but is the money improving fire service? Eleven Smith County volunteer fire chiefs say yes.

Firefighters who once were afraid to use old bunker gear that could not pass inspection, can walk confidently onto a fire scene, and chiefs who worried their trucks would break down on the way to a rescue are driving new engines.

Each of the 11 volunteer fire departments, which had subsided on donations money from bake sales and chili cookoffs, are now receiving an average of $300,000 a year, nearly triple the average $50,000 they operated with last year.

But while money is helping the departments now, fire chiefs said their equipment is so far behind National Fire Protection Association standards it could be nearly five years before the improved fire service lowers insurance premiums in Smith County.

In August 2006, 11 volunteer fire chiefs approached Smith County residents and asked them to create a fire district, which allows for a governing board appointed by the Smith County Commissioner’s Court to levy a property tax not to exceed 10 cents per $100 in property valuation. The tax money collected would then go to the 11 volunteer fire departments in Smith County to improve fire services.

Proponents of the ESD No. 2 tax said, at the time the taxing entity was formed, that using the money to improve fire services would in turn reduce insurance premiums for home and business owners in the county.

Voters approved the formation of the Emergency Services District No. 2 in November 2006 and the appointed board set the tax rate at 8.5 cents per $100 in property valuation.

Last November, the ESD No. 2 board hired Insurance Service Consultant Mike Pietsch to conduct a review of fire departments and complete a report on what improvements needed to be made to lower each area’s ISO rating.

“No matter what insurance companies say, they all use ISO for insurance purposes,” Pietsch told the departments.

The Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO) establishes appropriate fire premiums for residential and commercial properties by providing insurance companies with information on a fire community’s ability to extinguish or control a structure fire.

Municipalities are ranked on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the lowest amount of fire coverage and 1 the highest.

Smith County’s ISO rating is an average of 9 in the county, which by most insurance standards is high, meaning higher insurance premiums for property owners.

The ESD’s goal is to lower Smith County’s ISO rating by at least two points.

ISO rates are based off the three main elements to responding and putting out fires: fire alarms, which includes how effective emergency calls are answered and dispatched; fire departments, which included the firefighter training, equipment; and water supply. Fire departments have little control over their dispatch center or water supply, but can control elements such as equipment and training.

When the upgrades are complete, the fire departments will request a ISO survey of the districts to asses the area’s level of protection and give the department a new rating. A community can request a survey at any time, but fire chiefs said they want to be certain their improvements will reduce insurance ratings, not increase them.

“We want to make sure everyone has had time to practice so that they know without a doubt they will pass,” Volunteer Firemen’s Association President Tommy Brock said. “You have certain criteria you have to get in place before you do it. It’s a waste of time if you are going to fail, and how do you know the rate won’t go up if you do poorly.”

But buying a few new trucks and adding personnel is only a portion of the requirements highlighted in the first leg of Peiche’s 30-page report.

“This is only a start,” Brock said.

According the report, Smith County’s biggest problem is a lack of fire stations. At least five of the 11 volunteer fire departments require substations before requesting an ISO survey. Winona, Jackson Heights, Arp, Dixie and areas served by Van and Mineola fire departments are now looking to purchase land to put substations within five road miles of the homes and businesses they are protecting — part of ISO standards.

ESD No. 2 is also working to develop an automatic-aid agreement among the fire departments, which would help eliminate some areas outside the five-mile radius.

Five years ago, Noonday Volunteer Fire Department had land donated for the construction of a substation.

Flint-Gresham Volunteer Fire Department was able to purchase an existing building with ESD No. 2 funds and turn it into a substation, but other departments have not been so lucky.

Arp Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mack Arnold said that, while new stations are the number one requirement, land isn’t cheap and not everyone is willing to sell.

“We’ve looked at several properties, but so far nothing has worked out,” Arnold said.

Red Springs is currently completing construction on a new fire station on Farm-to-Market Road 14, but other department chiefs said their substations will not need to be as large as Red Springs.

“Once we get the land we can hopefully work with an architect to come up with a building plan that all of us can use,” Brock said.

Still, with new substations, the department’s current stations need to be expanded. Many of the stations were built in early 1980s when trucks were smaller and less equipment was required. Now, with larger engines and more apparatuses to house, many stations are so full the doors won’t close.

“Places like Chapel Hill and Bullard are growing,” said Chapel Hill Volunteer Fire Department Chief Cody Crawford. “You used to have frame houses and hay. Now look at these communities. We have subdivisions and stuff that puts you in the bracket of the metropolis. You need more equipment so you need a bigger station.”

ISO inspectors look at the areas outside the five-mile fire station radius to determine if rural areas have enough hydrants. Most of the areas have access to hydrants, but the small mains are used for refilling trucks, not for hooking up a hose and spraying water directly on a fire.

Crawford said that many times when departments are on a scene there isn’t a fire hydrant close enough.

With new equipment, Crawford and other fire chiefs hope to get around the five-mile radius rule and obtain the ISO points by creating a water shuttle with multiple departments that can pump 250 gallons of water a minute for 20 minutes uninterrupted.

“We’ve got to train on this until we have done it enough that we can do it in our sleep,” Crawford said. “That’s something that we can do without the survey with in the next year and see immediate results.”

For the test, ISO inspectors choose the largest building in a fire district and calculate how much water it will require to extinguish that building in the event of a fire.

Brock said that in 1997, Winona VFD attempted the shuttle test, but missed the requirement by 30 seconds.

“We were using three old trucks that were nothing compared to the gear we are purchasing or have at the stations today,” he said. “With the ESD money and grants some of the guys have gotten we can do it.”

Departments also have come to an agreement with Southern Utilities, a county water provider, to allow regular testing of the hydrants during off-peak season, also an ISO requirement.

“They have agreed that we can test the hydrants as long as a representative from their water company is there,” Brock said.

The funds have allowed the fire departments to purchase equipment they could not afford prior to the formation of ESD.

“That’s where the ESD has helped,” said Bullard Volunteer Fire Department Chief Keith Newburn. ‘We’re getting updating a lot of the old equipment that does not pass standards.”

Before ESD No. 2, many of the chiefs worried that if inspectors from NFPA were to visit the departments and see some of their substandard safety equipment, they could lose grant money.

“We tested it and it worked, but it wasn’t up to code,” Newburn said. “We all knew it, but did the best we could with what we had.”

Flint-Gresham and Bullard purchased new rescue trucks, which count toward the ISO rating, and all departments have been able to repair broken equipment.

Noonday recently purchased a ladder truck, and Chapel Hill is waiting to hear back on a ladder truck grant it applied for.

Most of the trucks cost upwards of $400,000 each.

“This has given us a ton of equipment that we’ve never had before,” said Noonday Volunteer Fire Department Chief Gary Aarant. “The response time is better than ever.”

Before some of the upgrades, firefighters said they feared going to a fire scene because of the old or broken equipment.

“This is not a matter of having all new things,” Aarant said. “We just want proper equipment that works.”

With ESD money, Noonday purchased bunker gear to replace their old gear the failed tests.

ESD No. 2, in a group, purchase bought $100,000 in hoses for the departments.

All of their hoses prior to ESD failed safety standards.

“The attitude of the firefighters is a lot better now,” Aarant said.

Even with ample equipment, the departments could lose credit for insufficient staffing, failing test hoses and lack of training.

“We have to keep books on everything,” Newburn said. “Anytime we test a hose, go on a run or check equipment we’ve got to write it down.”

The departments are required to provide two maps to ISO, which include fire stations and their distances to main roadways, along with fire hydrants in the district. According to the report, ISO can not survey an ESD district without complete maps.

The mapping includes taking a detailed assessment of the fire district’s largest buildings such as schools, churches and undeveloped areas.

To meet ISO requirements, the departments have to maintain the records for at least three years.

A lot of the mapping, hose and hydrant testing that would be difficult to complete with a volunteer staff is now being completed by paid part-time firefighters.

With ESD money, Dixie, Chapel Hill, Noonday, Flint Gresham, Red Springs, Troup and Arp have all hired firefighters to man the stations during daytime business hours.

“Some of the departments have mapped hydrants before, a lot of them are just starting to do it. A lot has to do with manpower at night. It’s hard to find hydrants when it’s dark, and on the weekends we’re usually out on calls,” he said.

Jackson Heights Volunteer Fire Department Chief Terrence Thompson explained that even if he had a new station, he could not staff it. His department covers

the Jackson Heights district with two volunteer firefighters during the day and five during the evening.

In a volunteer fire department, the firefighters are volunteers with full-time jobs. If a department is called out to a grass fire at 8 p.m. and doesn’t get done until 4 a.m., the fire fighters still have to show up at work the next morning. With many employers less likely to give their employees time off to fight fires, departments like Jackson Heights are having problems staffing their departments.

“Everyone works their own job and a lot of them are out of town in the city during the day,” Rozell said. “Sometimes if you have a major fire you can break loose, but it has to be major. One of the biggest things I’ve seen with ESD is having people on duty who can respond to incidents quickly.”

To encourage more volunteers, Thompson said he want to use the ESD money to pay volunteers a small amount for each fire run. Other departments, such as Troup and Arp, already pay a small stipend to the firefighters to help them pay for gas.

Chiefs also hope to use paid training as an incentive to boost volunteerism in their communities. While all departments train personnel, chiefs said they need more training to certify all firefighters to enter a building. Before ESD No. 2, volunteer firefighters paid for their own training or with grants obtained by the department.

“We finally have the funding to send people to school and buy the books to do in-house training,” Brock said. “We could not do a lot of that before.”

The total cost of 20 training books is more than $4,000.

Unlike many of the other volunteer fire departments, Crawford has been lucky and has not had major problems recruiting volunteers. He’s also put a heavy emphasis on training for his firefighters.

“Even when we started under budget they were basic certified,” he said.

Currently, Chapel Hill has 28 active volunteer firefighters on their roster.

“This money has been good to help us step up to that next level,” Crawford said.

The purchase of SCVA equipment better bunker gear also boosted the confidence of many of the firefighters.

“The money has made a big difference. It has better allowed us to do what we are supposed to and feel more confident,” firefighter Steven Davidson said.

NEW TRUCK: A new fire truck sits inside the bay area of the Bullard Volunteer Fire Department. The truck was purchased with funds from the Emergency Services District No. 2.
((Staff Photo By Jaime R. Carrero))