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> Headlines Summary > 20080819 Headlines: Cumberland To Have Plans to Fix FD Funding System
Cumberland Board Says Fire District Fix is in Works
Cumberland County
CUMBERLAND COUNTY - Cumberland County should have a plan to fix its fire department funding system before the end of the year, the Board of Commissioners said Monday to a group of firefighters.
The board more than two years ago asked the local Fire Chiefs Association to come up with a plan for more equally funding the county’s volunteer fire departments. Fire Chiefs Association President Freddy Johnson said he plans to bring the board a solution in October.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the county created 15 rural fire districts. It assesses each of those districts with property tax rates of 10 cents per $100 in valuation, and the fire departments keep all the tax revenue collected in their districts.
Funding disparities have developed because some districts have wealthier tax bases to collect from. The problem isn’t new. The board in 1989 tacked on an extra 0.3-cent countywide fire tax, with the revenues from that going to benefit the “financially distressed fire districts.”
But the commissioners say that isn’t enough anymore, and hasn’t been for years. Some districts collect more than half a million dollars annually and have paid, 24-hour staff. Others see less than $100,000 and struggle to keep enough volunteers.
“We want to make sure that we can equalize things as much as possible,” Commissioner Kenneth Edge said.
Johnson said that there should be a uniform set of standards for departments to meet to go along with the changes in funding.
All the fire departments are struggling because they have to act as first responders in emergencies now, without any additional funding, Johnson said.
The changes to come, Commissioner Breeden Blackwell said, may be drastic. It could be time for all the money to be collected into one pot and then distributed, he said. Or the county may decide to run its fire departments instead of having independent contracts with the different fire agencies.
“Everyone here knows this system is broken,” Blackwell said.
The county also plans to add language in its contracts with fire departments to step up oversight of their spending.
Some commissioners reacted angrily earlier this month because they had no knowledge that the Stoney Point Fire Department was in the midst of building a $1.1 million firehouse. That spurred Monday’s discussion of the whole system.
“Sometimes an issue has to surface for discussion about something else,” Blackwell said.
Primary Agency: Cumberland County Fire Department
Source: Fayetteville Observer
Posted on Tue Aug 19 2008 at 14:21
> Headlines Summary > 20080819 Headlines: ATF Called to Robbins
ATF National Response Team Called to Robbins
Moore County
ROBBINS - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Response Team, along with ATF special agents from the Charlotte Field Division, have entered the investigation of a large commercial fire that occurred Sunday, August 17, 2008, at 200 Kennedy Street in Robbins, NC. The NRT responded at the request of the Robbins Fire and Police Departments.
Zebedee T. Graham, special agent in charge of the ATF Charlotte Field Division, said that the business, formally the Milliken plant, suffered significant fire damage and early estimates of the damages are in excess of $1 million. Fire departments from 5 surrounding counties assisted in suppressing the fire.
The NRT has brought definitive expertise and an array of state-of-the-art equipment to the investigation of major fire and explosives incidents since 1978. Four regional components, organized geographically to cover the United States, comprise the NRT. The team can respond within 24 hours to assist state and local law enforcement or fire service personnel in onsite investigations.
The responding NRT component normally has 18 members, including veteran special agents who have post-blast and fire origin-and-cause expertise; forensic chemists; explosives enforcement officers; fire protection engineers; accelerant detection canines; explosives detection canines; and intelligence, computer forensic and audit support. A fleet of fully equipped response vehicles strategically located throughout the United States provides logistical support. The responding NRT Team Supervisor is Supervisory Special Agent Chris Porreca stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Team Special Agent in Charge is Carl Vasilko, stationed in Louisville, Kentucky.
ATF’s partnership with federal, state and local officers is vital to the most effective processing efforts at an explosives or fire scene. The NRT capitalizes on that by working alongside its partners in reconstructing the scene, identifying the seat of the blast or the origin of the fire, conducting interviews and sifting through debris to obtain evidence related to the explosion or fire.
In addition to investigating hundreds of large fire and explosives scenes, the NRT trucks were deployed for the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon; the Olympics and other major sporting events in the United States; presidential inaugurations and the national political conventions; and major international conferences.
This is the 4th NRT activation in the Carolinas over the past 14 months, including activations in Spruce Pine and Salisbury, NC, and Charleston, SC in 2007. The NRT program began in 1978 and has been activated 656 times since, with 17 activations so far in 2008. Other agencies involved in the investigation are the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Robbins Police and Fire Departments, the Moore County Fire Marshal, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Department.
Contact: ATF PIO Earl Woodham
(704) 716-1843
SOURCE Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Primary Agency: Robbins Fire Department
Source: Orlando Business Journal
Posted on Tue Aug 19 2008 at 14:03
> Headlines Summary > 20080819 Headlines: ATF Called to Robbins
ATF National Response Team Called to Robbins
Moore County
ROBBINS - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Response Team, along with ATF special agents from the Charlotte Field Division, have entered the investigation of a large commercial fire that occurred Sunday, August 17, 2008, at 200 Kennedy Street in Robbins, NC. The NRT responded at the request of the Robbins Fire and Police Departments.
Zebedee T. Graham, special agent in charge of the ATF Charlotte Field Division, said that the business, formally the Milliken plant, suffered significant fire damage and early estimates of the damages are in excess of $1 million. Fire departments from 5 surrounding counties assisted in suppressing the fire.
The NRT has brought definitive expertise and an array of state-of-the-art equipment to the investigation of major fire and explosives incidents since 1978. Four regional components, organized geographically to cover the United States, comprise the NRT. The team can respond within 24 hours to assist state and local law enforcement or fire service personnel in onsite investigations.
The responding NRT component normally has 18 members, including veteran special agents who have post-blast and fire origin-and-cause expertise; forensic chemists; explosives enforcement officers; fire protection engineers; accelerant detection canines; explosives detection canines; and intelligence, computer forensic and audit support. A fleet of fully equipped response vehicles strategically located throughout the United States provides logistical support. The responding NRT Team Supervisor is Supervisory Special Agent Chris Porreca stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Team Special Agent in Charge is Carl Vasilko, stationed in Louisville, Kentucky.
ATF’s partnership with federal, state and local officers is vital to the most effective processing efforts at an explosives or fire scene. The NRT capitalizes on that by working alongside its partners in reconstructing the scene, identifying the seat of the blast or the origin of the fire, conducting interviews and sifting through debris to obtain evidence related to the explosion or fire.
In addition to investigating hundreds of large fire and explosives scenes, the NRT trucks were deployed for the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon; the Olympics and other major sporting events in the United States; presidential inaugurations and the national political conventions; and major international conferences.
This is the 4th NRT activation in the Carolinas over the past 14 months, including activations in Spruce Pine and Salisbury, NC, and Charleston, SC in 2007. The NRT program began in 1978 and has been activated 656 times since, with 17 activations so far in 2008. Other agencies involved in the investigation are the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Robbins Police and Fire Departments, the Moore County Fire Marshal, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Department.
Contact: ATF PIO Earl Woodham
(704) 716-1843
SOURCE Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Primary Agency: Robbins Fire Department
Source: Orlando Business Journal
Posted on Tue Aug 19 2008 at 14:03
> Headlines Summary > 20080819 Headlines: ATF Called to Robbins
ATF National Response Team Called to Robbins
Moore County
ROBBINS - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Response Team, along with ATF special agents from the Charlotte Field Division, have entered the investigation of a large commercial fire that occurred Sunday, August 17, 2008, at 200 Kennedy Street in Robbins, NC. The NRT responded at the request of the Robbins Fire and Police Departments.
Zebedee T. Graham, special agent in charge of the ATF Charlotte Field Division, said that the business, formally the Milliken plant, suffered significant fire damage and early estimates of the damages are in excess of $1 million. Fire departments from 5 surrounding counties assisted in suppressing the fire.
The NRT has brought definitive expertise and an array of state-of-the-art equipment to the investigation of major fire and explosives incidents since 1978. Four regional components, organized geographically to cover the United States, comprise the NRT. The team can respond within 24 hours to assist state and local law enforcement or fire service personnel in onsite investigations.
The responding NRT component normally has 18 members, including veteran special agents who have post-blast and fire origin-and-cause expertise; forensic chemists; explosives enforcement officers; fire protection engineers; accelerant detection canines; explosives detection canines; and intelligence, computer forensic and audit support. A fleet of fully equipped response vehicles strategically located throughout the United States provides logistical support. The responding NRT Team Supervisor is Supervisory Special Agent Chris Porreca stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Team Special Agent in Charge is Carl Vasilko, stationed in Louisville, Kentucky.
ATF’s partnership with federal, state and local officers is vital to the most effective processing efforts at an explosives or fire scene. The NRT capitalizes on that by working alongside its partners in reconstructing the scene, identifying the seat of the blast or the origin of the fire, conducting interviews and sifting through debris to obtain evidence related to the explosion or fire.
In addition to investigating hundreds of large fire and explosives scenes, the NRT trucks were deployed for the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon; the Olympics and other major sporting events in the United States; presidential inaugurations and the national political conventions; and major international conferences.
This is the 4th NRT activation in the Carolinas over the past 14 months, including activations in Spruce Pine and Salisbury, NC, and Charleston, SC in 2007. The NRT program began in 1978 and has been activated 656 times since, with 17 activations so far in 2008. Other agencies involved in the investigation are the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Robbins Police and Fire Departments, the Moore County Fire Marshal, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Department.
Contact: ATF PIO Earl Woodham
(704) 716-1843
SOURCE Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Primary Agency: Robbins Fire Department
Source: Orlando Business Journal
Posted on Tue Aug 19 2008 at 14:03
> Headlines Summary > 20080819 Headlines: Wilson House Fire
Fire Claims House on Rock Quarry Road in Wilson
Wilson County
WILSON - Bryan and Debbie Haggans of 6303 Rock Quarry Road lost their home and their beloved cat to a mid-morning fire Monday.
Bryan Haggans was working when the blaze broke out. He owns Quality Auto Repair in Elm City.
“I was at work when it started,” Bryan Haggans said. “Thank God we have insurance.”
The Wilson Chapter of the American Red Cross is providing assistance to the couple while insurance adjusters assess the damage to the doublewide trailer.
Haggans’ neighbor, 17-year-old Crystal Weiand and her friend Mindy Smith, also 17, saw the smoke and flames and called 911.
“I left the house and was going to the car wash in Sharpsburg,” Weiand said. “As I passed the house I saw the smoke and flames coming out of the eaves of the house. That’s when I went back home and got my dad. We saw Ms. Debbie come home and she was saying that her cat was still in there.”
In an effort to help Debbie Haggans save her cat, Precious, the trio started breaking out the windows with bricks and trying to coax the cat out.
Ricky Weiand, Crystal’s father, tried to make his way into the house to save the cat, but the smoke was too much for him.
“I went in a little ways and had to come right back out,” he said. “It was just too much.”
Billy Baker, a fireman with the Sharpsburg Fire Department, said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
This is the second fire that the Haggans have been through in the 16 years that they have lived at the property. Bryan Haggans said their singlewide mobile home was lost in a fire about 15 years ago.
Baker said firefighters from Sharpsburg, Toisnot, Westmount, East Nash and Bakertown brought the blaze under control within a short amount of time.
The Wilson County Tax Office lists the value of the home at $56,240.
Primary Agency: Sharpsburg Fire Prevention Association
Source: Wilson Daily
Posted on Tue Aug 19 2008 at 13:53
> Headlines Summary > 20080818 Headlines: Wal-Mart Fire Under Investigation
Wal-Mart Fire Under Investigation
Cumberland County
FAYETTEVILLE - A small fire early today forced the evacuation of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Skibo Road, firefighters said.
Police are investigating the cause of the fire that was reported in the housewares section, said Mike Hill, Fayetteville Fire Department battalion commander.
Firefighters were called to the store at 1550 Skibo Road about 1:30 a.m., Hill said.
The fire was confined to part of an aisle that displayed plastic containers, Hill said.
A store employed used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze before firefighters arrived, Hill said.
About 100 people — about half of them store employees — were evacuated, Hill said.
No injuries were reported.
Firefighters were at the store until about 4:30 a.m., he said.
The 24-hour store closed briefly but reopened this morning, a spokesman said.
Fayetteville police are investigating, Hill said.
Primary Agency: Fayetteville Fire Department
Source: Fayetteville Observer
Posted on Mon Aug 18 2008 at 11:12
> Headlines Summary > 20080818 Headlines: Rocky Mount Assistant Chief
Firefighter's Long Road to Second in Command
Nash County
ROCKY MOUNT - David English said he never expected to make it as high in rank as Rocky Mount Assistant Fire Chief when he joined the department in 1980.
But that’s where the Rocky Mount native has landed after continually being promoted over the years.
“I’m very happy to be in the position,” English said. “I look forward to continuing to serve the city, and to continue to grow in knowledge and experience as we move forward and improve our services to better serve the city.”
Firefighting has been in the 49-year-old’s blood from an early age. English’s father was a Rocky Mount firefighter. When English was 14 years old, he joined a junior volunteer firefighter program at Stony Creek.
“It (firefighting) has been a way of life for me,” he said. “The reward is being able to help people. In our line of work, we generally help people at some of the worst times of their lives.”
Both of his sons are firefighters. One works for the city of Raleigh and the other for Wake Forest’s department.
English said he had the idea that he would retire at the Rocky Mount Fire Department when he started.
“It’s been a rewarding career,” he said. “It’s been a challenge in completing the education and learning new things as I moved along in different jobs.”
At 16, he became a certified emergency medical technician. He took the second EMT class ever offered in Nash County and was one of the few people to become certified under 18. He said he took the course before the law required that people be 18 to take it.
English has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Mount Olive College, a two-year degree in fire protection technology from Wilson Technical College and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s executive fire officer program in Emmitsburg, Md.
When English first joined the department, Rocky Mount firefighters did not also serve as emergency medical first responders as they do today.
He said today’s firefighters have to undergo much more training than when he started, including becoming emergency-medical-technician and hazardous-material certified.
“Back when I started, basically everything (in training) was in-house,” English said.
In 1987, English was recognized as “Outstanding Young Firefighter of the Year” by the Rocky Mount Jaycees.
In 1995, he was the Lion’s Club Firemen of the Year.
English has been called upon to help train other fire departments about how to coordinate response in the event of a major disaster.
He has been division chief of operations since 2001. After starting with the department in 1980, he received a string of promotions: to fire engineer in 1985, to district fire chief in 1997.
Megan Hanks, the city’s public affairs manager, said English has remained in jobs directly related to responding to emergency calls.
“All along he has been in operations, fighting fires out there in the field,” she said.
Primary Agency: Rocky Mount Fire Department
Source: Rocky Mount Telegram