Caroline F&R Maintenance
How the infrastructure affects response time
By Terry L. Norton, Staff Writer

In May, two Caroline rescue workers had to be rescued themselves.

Hanover Fire and Rescue extricated the driver, Ashby Clore, and medic, Erin Southworth, from a Frog Level ambulance. They were taken to the hospital along with the patient they had been transporting.

According to the Hanover Sheriffís Office report, Clore said he had difficulty in steering prior to the ambulance crossing the oncoming travel lane and hitting some trees.
Fire and Rescue Director Ed Fuzy said that, to his knowledge, all maintenance had been kept up on the vehicle.

Preventive Maintenance, a responsibility of each departmentís motor sergeant, is meant to keep the vehicles in good working order by performing a thorough safety pre-check, annual inspections and minor repairs.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Fire Administration recently performed a study that identified service gaps in Americaís fire departments. Some of the problems arise within Carolineís department ñ such as apparent gaps in preventative maintenance.

The FEMA study showed also that many departments lack key equipment, prevention programs and training.

According to Fuzy, in 1999, the county took on the expense of helping departments purchase vehicles by assisting with the donations. In the future, it may be more prudent for the county to hire a mechanic to work on all county vehicles.

He says the three primary squads have three ambulances each, the other two have one ambulance each. He said there are two spare ambulances for use by any squad that needs one.

Yet squads have responded to calls in unsafe vehicles. In April 2001, former Volunteer Firefighter Chris Catlett was injured during a training exercise.

According to Catlett, the Standard Operating Procedures requires an ambulance on site during high-risk training. There was no ambulance, so one was called.

He was put into the ambulance, which turned out to have defective brakes. He then had to wait for another ambulance before riding to the hospital.

The FEMA study also indicated that many departments do not have enough stations to achieve response-time guidelines.

As for stations in Caroline County, the three primary rescue squads - Bowling Green, Ladysmith and Frog Level ñ have their own buildings. Port Royal and Upper Caroline Rescue Squads share space with the fire companies.

A fire on Jan. 7, in which Hanover Engine 5 responded to a house on Courtney Road in Frog Level, appears to substantiate the problem.

Bowling Green Fire Department was on its way when the Hanover crew arrived on the scene and established command. Hanover Chief Bobby Bailey told dispatch to return Bowling Green to their station.

Fuzy said that due to the location of the fire and the fact that it was small and easily controlled, allowed Hanover to handle the call also the area is covered by both Caroline and Hanover County Fire and Rescue responders.

Another deficit FEMA says departments suffer is that not all firefighters are equipped with self-contained breathing apparatus.

Professional Firefighter Ed Bonham explained that the county can not afford the necessary fire-fighting training for all medics and EMTs. He said that Ladysmith Rescue lost the opportunity to gain 10 trained volunteers because they could not properly equip them.
Bonham said the county received a Federal Grant that ran through 2003 that helped the county to buy air packs for EMTs.

The FEMA report also says departments are unable to handle unusual incidents with specialized resources nor do they have written agreements to direct use of non-local response resources.

Though local fire and rescue departments signify many of the problems highlighted in the federal report, Caroline participated and did well in a biannual training event, which FEMA evaluates.

This past summer, Caroline Fire and Rescue took part in the exercise, which is designed to test all aspects of the department and its ability to work with neighboring departments.
Director Fuzy said the Lake Anna Training was problem free and Caroline Fire and Rescue did not receive any negative issues.

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