2007 Was A Busy Year For The Crozet Volunteer Fire Department
Twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year for almost 100
years when the call for service was sounded the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department
answered. In 2007 our fire pagers would shout out their shrill beeps seven
hundred and seventy seven times with members responding to a wide variety of
calls. At the top of the list of calls responded to were motor vehicle
accidents which accounted for 220 calls. Many of these calls would be a
dual effort between the fire department and the Western Albemarle Rescue Squad,
who provide not only their medical expertise, but are also the experts in
extrication of accident victims. Interestingly, 138 of these calls would
have an address of Interstate 64 and included 25 incidents involving tractor
trailer trucks. I’m not sure if the problem is the steep grade of the
mountain, but most of the car or truck fires we responded to were also on
Interstate 64.
When reviewing the list of calls, one item that did catch my attention were the
number fire alarm activations we respond to, which came to 133 calls. The
vast majority of these would be false alarms, but from a fire department
perspective each one has to be treated as a potential fire and we always prepare
for any eventually. For the firefighters there are two potential dangers
responding to these types of calls. The first comes with fact that about
25 percent of firefighter fatalities occur while responding to a call.
Thankfully the members of our community are most cooperative in yielding the
right of way to our emergency vehicles making life much easier for our drivers
who have to navigate our narrow country roads. The second is a problem for those
of us sitting in the fire engine and that’s getting too complacent when this
type of call is received and not being totally ready when we arrive on scene.
One type of call that I thought would account for a much greater percentage of
calls were brush fires, which totaled 133 calls. Considering our fire
department covers such a large rural area and the fact we were in a drought much
of the year I thought the brush fire season would be much worse.
Obviously the most feared of all types of calls we respond to are the structure
fires. In 2007 we would hear the Emergency Communication Center call us
out for structure fires 81 times, ranging from small fires put out by a couple
of squirts of water to monster fires that would require the efforts of multiple
departments to extinguish. On 14 occasions the Crozet Fire Department
would be called to cover the fire stations of other departments when all of
their equipment was out on a call.
At the bottom of the lists came calls from a category titled “Public Service”.
This is the catch all for everything from flooded basements to my favorite (not
really), the animal rescue call.
So what’s new for the fire department in 2008? Here’s my first headline
“Firefighter Fink Fights First Fire”. Jimmy Fink, son of firefighter Glen
Fink and recent graduate of Firefighter I class got to be part of the attack
team at a recent structure fire up in White Hall. For Jimmy this would be his
first structure fire and his baptism into the brotherhood of fire and smoke. As
part of the team, which also included Firefighter Paul Quillon and Ty Milnor, I
can attest to the fine job Jimmy did in helping to make a good stop of a fire
that was blowing out the roof vent when we arrived. Jimmy is a freshman at
Bridgewater College in the valley and was a member of the Crozet Fire Department
Junior Firefighter program. We look forward to Jimmy being a value member
of the department for years to come.
Also in the good news category are congratulations to Firefighter Jeff Bodine
who just passed his Firefighter I state exam as well as the fact we now have two
new members, Lance Blakely, a Charlottesville Fire Department Firefighter and
Mark Carlson, who just moved this way from Chicago.
Remember we can always use new members, so if your interested stop by the fire
house any evening from Monday through Thursday after 6 PM and talk to someone
about joining. The department pays for all the training and equipment
you’ll need to become a member of a first class fire department.