Hopewell EMS crazy today

[Stick0413]

I have never heard it like this....

All of the medic units are out on calls
4 medic units are in the city on mutual aid
All of the engines are out (all on EMS calls except for one cut job).
The last engine went to a diabetic shock call and they can not get any transport unit to respond on mutual aid. They have tried Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Fort Lee, Prince George, Charles City, Petersburg with all of them saying they can't respond.

All I can say is there better not be another EMS call or even worse a fire call right now. There is no one to respond right now.

 

[gcgrotz]

Makes you wonder what would happen if there was a REALLY BIG emergency...

I've heard similar here in C'ville.

 

[Stick0413]

Well I mean for a big emergency they seem to handle it very well (i.e. the tornado in Colonial Heights). There was massive mutual aid response. I guess part of that is in a really big emergency like that you will get more than one mutual aid unit from a given jurisdiction (i.e. Chesterfield among others sent many medic units there vs sending one the other day to Hopewell).

 

[LEH]

Makes you wonder what would happen if there was a REALLY BIG emergency...

I've heard similar here in C'ville.

For Hopewell, a real big emergency would be a two alarm fire. They only have two fire stations. This is where mutual aid really comes in.

But mutual aid can only come if they are not tied up with their own emergencies. Or they may have to respond a unit that is not the closest to the incident.

Sometimes one wonders which is a better idea. To have many small departments, with their costs and overhead, or to have a larger, maybe county level, department. A lot to be said for both sides.

 

[Stick0413]

Very true Lynn. Most of the time when there is a structure fire Jefferson Park VFD (Prince George) is automatically dispatched. Larger fires will get mutual aid from Fort Lee, Enon (Chesterfield), Rivers Bend (Chesterfield), and other Prince George departments.

Edit:
A little more... Hopewell only has 13 firefighters (including the Batt. Chief) on duty per shift. So you are essentially looking at 12 firefighters that will actually be fighting a fire. It is not uncommon for both fire medics to be tied up on calls. So 2 per medic you are looking at 8 firefighters for the whole city. This is to man 5 engines (Hopewell's truck has be out of service for about a year now, don't know what they are planning to do). I know when the truck was in service when it went on a call, all you had was someone driving it. You can compound this even more if they are on a water rescue as well. Then you have 6 firefighters that are able to roll. I do know the fire chief has went to the city and asked for the funds for just one more position per shift and he got turned down. He even used the Charleston incident as a reason (under staffing contributed to that tragedy) and still got turned down. I have heard it from firefighters outside of the city and they said the one location in the area that is prime for a LODD is Hopewell. Really if you think about it, what is really scary, is that Hopewell has all these industrial plants that could be a big problem if one lights up. Now there is going to be an ethanol plant in the city. The FD is reviewing their additional needs for it. I can tell you that they need more personnel and a new truck (guessing the old truck is down for the count).

 

[LEH]

Hopewell isn't the only place that invites tragedy due to political BS.

The small suburb of Dayton I lived in for a while did much the same thing. For both police and fire. They worked a real nice deal to get a large shopping mall (along with several outlying strip malls) then closed the nearest fire station for 'budgetary' reasons and they could not add to the police department for the same reason though the mall added significantly to LE related problems.

Tucson, AZ about twelve years ago had to pass a bond issue to replace its ENTIRE fire department fleet. The NEWEST unit was over ten years old. One ACTIVE engine was in such bad shape that the Captain's door fell off as they were leaving the station on a run one day.

I was guessing the Hopewell FD as two medics, two active engines, a ladder and one or two reserve units.

When you get politicians like that, it is time to exercise your RIGHT to vote and vote them out of office.

But then it does become a catch 22. The public expects and demands the services, but balks at the taxes to pay for it.

TAX REFORM time is nigh upon us. There has to be a better way to raise the revenue and lower taxes. I am not sure what it is though.

 

[Stick0413]

Hopewell has 4 engines (2-1997s and 2-1999s, all Quality/Spartan), 1 reserve engine (but it has basically taken the place of the Truck so it runs 3rd due from station 1 a 1980 Pierce), 2 medics (1-1999 & 1-2001 both Ford/Wheeled Coach), 1 Boat, and 1 Tech Rescue/HazMat Trailer (they might be two units but I believe its one). The truck was a 1988 Simon/Duplex/LTI aerial platform (105').

If I am not mistaken they have secured funds for a new station 2. Which truly they do need bigger quarters but I think they could have done other things with that money first.

One thing I do not understand is why don't they run a combination department like Colonial Heights (and even Chesterfield). There are several people in Hopewell that volunteer as firefighters in Prince George, Chesterfield, and Colonial Heights. If they could get even 10 of them to volunteer for Hopewell that could make a big difference.

The Hopewell Volunteer Emergency Crew has 4 medics, mostly newer (2001 and newer I think) except for one which is like a 1995 and they rarely run that unit. For the most part they will have one "duty crew" on at all times. On weekdays it is generally a paid crew. Every once in a while you will have two or even three crews running and on rare occasions there will be no "duty crew" available.

 

[gcgrotz]

I don't envy the politicians either, they have to make tough decisions. For instance here in C'ville, they are considering a "sister city" agreement with a city in Ghana. This will be the fourth sister city they will spend my tax dollars on.

And then there is the "Art in Place" project...

 

[n4jri]

Fourth sister city? Hmmm...probably a small price to pay for being viewed by northerners as the San Francisco of the south. <g>

BTW, I just snagged a new freq up there this weekend. The Doubletree Hotel up on US29 (formerly the Hilton) still on 154.570 after over 20 years. Now sporting an exotic 67.0 CTCSS tone to keep out Carters Mtn. (or maybe Wal-Mart)

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[gcgrotz]

Fourth sister city? Hmmm...probably a small price to pay for being viewed by northerners as the San Francisco of the south. <g>

BTW, I just snagged a new freq up there this weekend. The Doubletree Hotel up on US29 (formerly the Hilton) still on 154.570 after over 20 years. Now sporting an exotic 67.0 CTCSS tone to keep out Carters Mtn. (or maybe Wal-Mart)

73/Allen (N4JRI)

Wal Mart or maybe Sam's - it is right up on the hill there. Some of the drive thru's use it too, I think Wendy's over at Pantop's does. I usually block that and 154.600 but sometimes turn them on for a few days just to see what's up. Some of the schools used .570 years back when it required a license.

Roger on the SF of the south too. Some people downtown sportin' T-shirts that say "Obamaville".