RCFRD 2019 Annual Report : simplebooklet.com

Message From the Chief Specialized Duties On behalf of Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department I am proud to present the 2019 Annual Report In this report you will find the latest statistics events information and developments within our Department over the past calendar year As you read through this information I hope you will learn more about our Department and how we can be a resource to help the citizens visitors and businesses of our community One of the ways our Department is able to function effectively and efficiently is because of members of the Department who take on additional assignments and use skills that they already possess to assist the Department For example Paramedic Firefighter Reese Baumann also has skills as a small engine mechanic So he works on over 70 pieces of Departmental equipment like chain saws weed trimmers and blowers when they need repair thereby saving the Department money by keeping that work from being out sourced Our Department operates as a team with one vision serving the citizens and visitors of Roanoke County in the most professional and skillful manner We are pleased to have the continued support of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors and our County Administrators I am proud to serve as the Chief of Fire and Rescue alongside the best team of public servants who make all of our successes possible Chief Stephen G Simon Appointed Chief July 29 2015 Serving since 1994 Services directory Roanoke County Fire Rescue Administrative Offices 5925 Cove Road Roanoke VA 24019 www RoanokeCountyVA gov Emergency 911 Main Number 540 777 8701 Main Fax 540 777 9773 Office Hours Monday Friday 8 a m 5 p m Chief Stephen G Simon 540 777 8701 Deputy Chief Dustin Campbell 540 777 8701 Deputy Chief Travis Griffith 540 777 8701 Business Coordinator Jennifer Sexton 540 777 8730 Community Outreach Coordinator Brian Clingenpeel 540 777 8718 EMS Legal Record Request Fax 540 561 2872 Fire Marshal Prevention Office 540 777 8732 Front Cover top photo Picture taken from Drone 1 near the intersection of Newport and Catawba Valley Drive during water drafting training in the Masons Cove area of Roanoke County Front Cover bottom photo Residential structure fire call on Catawba Valley Drive ambulance is ready for service if needed 2 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Paramedic Firefighter Brooks Barnett has skills in appliance repair and helps repair departmental washers dryers and refrigerators totaling up to 90 appliances It doesn t stop there though as many others work on teams doing things like stretcher maintenance repair and maintenance of breathing apparatus or to serve on teams like drones foam wildland and technical rescue teams When not running emergency calls there is always some training maintenance or repairs that need to be completed to remain at a high level of readiness In addition to those pictured and mentioned here there are dozens of others who also take on extra duties or volunteer their skills time and resources to assist the Department and their community From working on secured doors to breathing apparatus to the Department chaplain and Field Training Officers to the foam team or the peer fitness team many people in our Department go the extra mile serving on our specialized teams and committees When not running emergency calls there is always training maintenance or repairs that need to be completed to remain at a high level of readiness This is what helps us operate as a team with one vision of serving the citizens and visitors of Roanoke County in the most professional and skillful manner Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 19

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Awa r d s A b o u t T h e D e pa r t m e n t Captain Brandon King Lieutenant John Ferron and Firefighter EMT Jacob Dodson were honored by the Kiwanis Club for actions that they took to rescue a Roanoke County resident who was trapped in rapidly rising floodwaters The resident credits these three with surely saving his life Roanoke County is nearly hexagonal in shape is 254 square miles and surrounds the cities of Roanoke and Salem Roanoke County is home to over 94 000 citizens and over than 5 300 businesses Fire Inspector John Sweeney was honored by the local Sons of the American Revolution Chapter After retiring with over 30 years of service as a Fire Captain with Roanoke City Sweeney came to work for RCFRD in 2004 as a part time fire inspector where his primary responsibility is reviewing proposed building plans Sweeney has also assisted with a number of other projects to keep the residents of Roanoke County safe Sweeney was recognized for his length of service and dedication to fire prevention Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department RCFRD is a combination system utilizing both career and volunteer personnel to provide fire and rescue services for the citizens businesses and visitors of Roanoke County The Department includes 13 stations strategically located throughout the 12 fire and rescue response areas The Department has witnessed a change in the workforce in that there is a decline in volunteerism causing a shift in the organization to become a more career based Department Today RCFRD employs over 188 full time personnel and is supported with approximately 200 active volunteers Currently the Department responds to over 15 000 calls for emergency assistance annually an increase from 20 years ago when about 8 000 calls were logged per year The Department is made up of two main divisions Operations and Support Services with an annual budget of over 19 million dollars Recently the Department was awarded a lifesaver award by the ADT corporation for our quick and timely response to a fire where two children escaped safely One of those children attributes her safety knowledge to what she learned at school in programs offered by our Department Three volunteer firefighters from Fort Lewis Volunteer Fire Company were recently recognized for each having served more than 40 years of service Firefighter David Carroll Firefighter Danny Carrol and Firefighter Mike Glass All three men held many different positions in the department and served countless hours in their community Roanoke County Board of Supervisor member Mrs Martha Hooker and Chief Simon had the honor of recognizing these three great firefighters and presenting them with a plaque from the Department Roanoke County Map designating fire and rescue community districts by color and where fire and rescue stations are located by red asterisk 18 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 3

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R o a n o k e C o u n t y S tat i o n s D r o n e s U n m a n n e d A i r c r a f t Sy s t e m s U A S Station 1 North County Fire Rescue 150 Hershberger Road Roanoke VA 24019 Roanoke County Fire and Rescue s drone program offers an innovative solution to several problems that we face in the delivery of fire rescue and emergency medical services Our drone program has three drones with the newest one having thermal imaging capabilities or FLIR technology allowing us to see in the dark The total cost of the program was 11 000 and was paid for by grants There is a team of eight fire and rescue employees who have been trained to pilot the drones meeting FAA regulations The drones Station 2 Vinton Fire Rescue 120 W Jackson Avenue Vinton VA 24179 without the FLIR technology have already been used to gather valuable information for multiple County departments for example when a landslide knocked a house off its foundation and to provide reconnaissance information for wildland fires Before the acquisition of the drones the only way to get this over head perspective or to use FLIR from above was with the use of a helicopter that we don t have and was not usually possible to obtain in a timely and cost effective manner Station 3 Cave Spring Fire 4212 Old Cave spring Road Roanoke VA 24018 Station 3 Cave Spring Rescue 3206 Valley Forge Avenue Roanoke VA 24018 Station 4 Catawba Fire Rescue 5585 Catawba Hospital Drive Catawba VA 24070 Station 5 Hollins Fire Rescue Station 7401 Barrens Road Roanoke VA 24019 Station 6 Mount Pleasant Fire Rescue 2909 Jae Valley Road Roanoke VA 24014 4 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Photos The UAS unmanned aircraft system or drones being used by our department and to the right is the controls that are used to fly the drone The landscape picture above was taken by one of the drones and helps you to see the viewpoint advantage that is gained by the use of the un manned aircraft systems Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 17

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N e w A p pa r at u s E q u i p m e n t R o a n o k e C o u n t y S tat i o n s Station 7 Clearbrook Fire Rescue 5342 Indian Grave Road Roanoke VA 24018 Station 8 Bent Mountain Fire Rescue 9606 Bent Mountain Road Bent Mountain VA 24059 When you respond to over 15 000 calls for service in a year and have 148 vehicles in your fleet and more than 400 people to keep safe while they put themselves in harm s way there is always a need to replace and update equipment This past year we were very happy to receive a new fire truck to be used in the Vinton area a new tanker truck to be used in the Catawba area and three new ambulances that will be utilized in Hollins Fort Lewis and Masons Cove We also continue to provide our staff with safety equipment like carbon monoxide monitors that have proved their worth on more than one occasion by alerting personnel to the presence of deadly gas and saving lives in the process Station 9 Fort Lewis Fire Rescue 3915 West Main Street Salem VA 24153 The new Wagon 2 is in Vinton where a 1997 Pierce Dash pumper was replaced with a 2019 Rosenbauer Commander custom pumper The new pumper has a 1 500 single stage gallons per minute GPM Waterous pump and carries 750 gallons of water This truck is almost identical to Wagon 1 which serves North County Station 10 Masons Cove Fire Rescue 3810 Bradshaw Road Salem VA 24153 The new Tanker 4 is in Catawba where a 1985 Ford Grumman tanker was replaced with a 2019 Rosenbauer Maverick commercial tanker on a Freightliner chassis The new tanker has a 1 250 GPM single stage Waterous pump and carries 1 800 gallons of water The tanker carries a 2 200 gallon portable drop tank as well The ambulances are all 2019 Braun Express type 1 ambulances and are built on a Ford F450 chassis They are all gasoline powered and replace three diesel powered ambulances These new units are currently in service to serve the communities of Hollins Fort Lewis and Masons Cove More of these small portable carbon monoxide monitors that are carried on all EMS jump bags were purchased in 2019 and have immediately proven to be life savers On more than one occasion they have alerted our crews to the presence of poisonous CO gas and our personnel were able to evacuate themselves and their patients to safety 16 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Station 11 Back Creek Fire Rescue 7125 Bent Mountain Road Roanoke VA 24018 Station 12 Read Mountain Fire Rescue 43 East Park Drive Roanoke VA 24019 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 5

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Community Risk Reduction Calls for Service Data and numbers drive everything that we do in fire and rescue In looking at these charts and graphs it is easy to pick up on some common themes Roanoke County has a variety of terrain ranging from very rural to sub urban and even some areas that could be considered urban in nature or where the population density is very high It is obvious that where the most people reside is where most of our calls for service originate Areas like Hollins Cave Spring Vinton and Fort Lewis are some of our busiest stations partly because some of our 24 hour care and living communities are located in these areas as well It s also easy to see that about 80 of our calls for service are for Emergency Medical Services and the other 20 are fire or other related We can also see that our calls for service in both categories continue to climb every year That is due in part to the fact that demographic and Census data tells us that our population continues to grow older The fastest growing segment of the population are those over the age of 50 Our response time data for EMS calls that are considered more serious ALS and ALS critical shows that over the entire County 43 percent of the time we arrive in less than 6 minutes and 67 of the time we arrive in less than 8 minutes We continue to face challenges on long travel times to remote areas of the County 2019 CALENDAR YEAR FIRE RESCUE INCIDENTS BY STATION 12 Read Mountain 5 11 Back Creek 2 10 Masons Cove 3 Excessive Distance 1 1 North County 12 9 Fort Lewis 13 Whether it s installing smoke alarms providing a courtesy chimney inspection or helping you with your family fire escape plan Roanoke County Fire and Rescue is ready to assist you your family or your business Did you know that having a working smoke alarm in your home doubles the chance that you will get out alive in the event of a fire This is such an important piece of fire safety that Roanoke County Fire Rescue will provide our residents with smoke alarms that have a 10 year battery and install them in your home for you when yours need to be replaced Home fires burn faster than ever before and experts say you may have just 2 minutes to escape from your burning home That means it s imperative for you and your family to have a home fire escape plan that shows two ways out of every room in your home and identifies a family meeting place outside Don t know where to start Need help Our Community Outreach Coordinator would be happy to help You can reach him at 777 8718 Deputy Fire Marshal Robert Mauck installs a smoke detector for a Roanoke County citizen While we highly recommend that you have your chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a certified chimney sweep we can provide you with a courtesy basic chimney inspection where we visually inspect the outside of your chimney for cracks and use mirrors to attempt to see inside your flu pipe as well Please call 777 8701 to schedule a chimney inspection 2 Vinton 16 8 Bent Mountain 1 7 Clearbrook 9 6 Mt Pleasant 4 3 Cave Spring 19 5 Hollins 15 6 4 Catawba 2 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 15

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Office of the Fire Marshal The Roanoke County Fire Marshal s Office is recognized in the Roanoke Valley Region as being very proactive rather than reactive when it comes to promoting fire safety from all angles The Fire Marshal s Office has had quite a year in 2019 The Roanoke County Fire Marshal s Office is one of only a few in our area where the Fire Marshal and the three Deputy Fire Marshals are all sworn law enforcement officers As such they have been fully integrated in the operations of the Roanoke County Police Department where they actively participate in school safety checks training for potential active shooter events and have even assisted the Police Department on several occasions with the apprehension of suspects This law enforcement certification allows them to investigate suspicious fires and if the fire is deemed malicious to then take that case all the way through the judicial system without further assistance from the Police Department In addition to these new initiatives of 2019 The Roanoke County Fire Marshal s Office also continues daily to have an aggressive fire safety education campaign utilizing traditional media social media and tools like the fire safety trailer interactive robot and a regular presence in the County school system teaching fire escape planning to students The Fire Marshal s Office also attends many community events throughout the year to spread that message of fire safety The Roanoke County Fire Marshal s Office also continues to be proactive in the five E s of fire prevention Enforcement Education Emergency Response Engineering and Economics and in so doing rises to the top when it comes to Community Risk Reduction Roanoke County is fortunate to not have had any fire related deaths in the past three years Top photo Fire Marshal officers visit local schools on a regular basis for safety checks Middle photo A Camp RIT Respect Integrity Teamwork Student learns how to rappel Bottom photo Fire Safety Trailer makes visits to schools to teach students how to fall and crawl Bottom insert Patches Pumper make learning fire safety fun 14 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Calls for Service FISCAL YEAR FIRE RESCUE INCIDENTS 18000 13431 13411 13218 12830 12802 16000 14000 12000 10000 Rescue Incidents 8000 Fire Incidents 6000 4000 1747 2189 2108 2261 2312 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 2000 0 The line graph above breaks calls for service down into Fire incidents and Rescue incidents and clearly shows that both types of calls continue to increase at a steady rate for the past 5 years with Rescue calls making up about 80 of our total call volume The bar graph below illustrates the total number of calls fire and rescue and breaks it down by station area The areas where populations density is the highest in the county are also the busiest areas when it comes to calls for fire and rescue services Thus busiest stations in our system are Cave Spring Vinton and Hollins The stations with the fewest calls for service are those that are more rural and mountainous like Bent Mountain Back Creek and Catawba 2019 Calendar Year Fire Rescue Incidents by Station 3500 2963 3000 2553 2370 2500 2000 2029 1894 1379 1500 1000 500 580 265 484 151 739 255 84 0 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 7

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Vo l u n t e e r i s m Volunteering is often taken for granted as something nice that some people do However in reality volunteers make a difference every day by positively affecting the health and well being of our community In most cases volunteers absorb the costs of the services they provide relying very little on local government assistance and often find creative ways to defray those costs Volunteerism has a long history in Roanoke County dating back to the early 1900 s Today volunteers continue to play a critical role in the success of Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department where a certain spirit exists among volunteer firefighters and rescuers Volunteers take pride in being part of an organization which is unique and complex Often E mergency M anagement Team I s Stor mR ea dy the spirit of volunteering is passed from one generation to the next This spirit motivates volunteers to perform their duties with professionalism and pride In Roanoke County we are pleased to have fourteen volunteer organizations across the County Within those organizations there are nearly 200 active volunteer personnel who are trained in firefighting emergency medical services or both These individuals go through training much like our career personnel and serve mostly during the nighttime hours weekends and holidays Many of our volunteers have faithfully served for over a decade The Roanoke County Emergency Management Team led by Deputy Chief Dustin Campbell worked hard in 2019 to receive the National Weather Service s Storm Ready certification Storm Ready uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle all types of extreme weather from tornadoes to winter storms The program encourages communities to take a new proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations by providing emergency managers with clearcut guidelines on how to improve their hazardous weather operations To be officially Storm Ready a community must Establish a 24 hour warning point and emergency operations center Have more than one way to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars and develop a formal hazardous weather plan which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises Our County is safer now during times of extreme weather because of the dedication of our Emergency Management Team and we are grateful for their commitment Below left Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Company volunteers have a booth set up at a local school event to recruit volunteers Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Company has been in service since 1941 Below right Volunteer Paramedic Matthew Skinner has served as an active member with the Vinton Volunteer Rescue Squad since 2014 During Hurricane Michael crews rescue a citizen trapped in rising waters along Merriman Road He was found clinging to a tree 8 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 13

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S w i f t Wat e r R e s c u e T e a m Academies of 2019 Prior to 2018 our Department was fortunate to use the swift water rescue services of neighboring localities as a part of regional cooperation and an effort to not duplicate services offered in the valley However when the remnants of Hurricane Michael hit our area in the fall of 2018 it became apparent that we should also have our own personnel trained in swift water rescues as it s possible for resources to be stretched thin in a time of regional flooding So in 2019 members of our technical rescue team began to also get their certifications in swift water rescue techniques In the future their services will help not only the residents of Roanoke County but also the entire Commonwealth of Virginia As our County continues to grow so do the needs to effectively staff fire and rescue units We were fortunate in 2019 to have had three career recruit schools in process somewhere during the calendar year These schools are a regional undertaking between Roanoke County the City of Roanoke the City of Salem and Botetourt County Al localities work cooperatively to train new firefighters and EMT s The school lasts for 18 weeks and upon completion the new hires receive many state and national certifications such as Firefighter 1 and 2 Emergency Medical TechnicianBasic Hazardous Materials Operations Emergency Vehicle Operations and Rope Rescue We appreciate the support of the Board of Supervisors in making sure that we are properly staffed and trained Swift water rescue training at the Roanoke River H e av y T e c h n i c a l R e s c u e T e a m Our Heavy and Technical Rescue HTR team continues to be a vital part of the Virginia Regional Response The team trains together on a regular basis and evaluates equipment needs to be ready to respond to those more unique rescue calls Many of the calls for service in the County are related to helping hikers on popular trails but there are also calls for vehicles into buildings and this past year for a construction worker who had fallen below ground level down a man hole This team works with all kinds of specialized tools and equipment for lifting extremely heavy objects cutting through materials or getting to patients who may be trapped way up high or underground Regional heavy technical rescue training exercise with local partners and Western Virginia Water Authority 12 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report Above Career recruit school graduation ceremony operated in conjunction with our Roanoke Valley partners Roanoke Fire EMS Salem Fire EMS and Botetourt County Fire EMS Right Volunteer academy graduation ceremony with fourteen graduates from volunteer organizations across Roanoke County Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 9

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Honor guard Wildl and Team Traditions and ceremony are an important part of the fire service Our Honor Guard team takes that very seriously and represents our Department with dignity honor and respect on a national level There are 14 active members of our Department on this team and several retirees who continue to serve Members of the Honor Guard are called upon to coordinate and organize local events such as graduations ceremonies and funerals with other area partners The Honor Guard members also continue to be essential personnel and part of the command staff for both the National Fallen Firefighter s Memorial held in October in Emmitsburg MD and the State Fallen Firefighter s Memorial held in June of every year in Richmond Our County s terrain features many mountains rural areas and lots of wooded lands which means that we have to be prepared to fight outdoor fires commonly referred to as wildland fires Our specially trained wildland team is nationally recognized with the U S Forest Service which means that not only do they help protect Roanoke County but they also can be deployed to help fight wildland fires in other parts of the state or even the Above An American flag is presented to next of kin at Annual Memorial Service held in Emmitsburg Maryland It is perhaps the most difficult duty of the Honor Guard and yet the one that means the most to many families Bottom left Honor Guard presenting the colors at a recent recruit school graduation Bottom Members of the Honor Guard represent our Department at a wreath laying to honor fallen firefighters at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Washington D C The Honor Guard has a special relationship with the The Old Guard from the 3rd U S Infantry regiment which guards the tomb of the unknowns 10 Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report country This past year members of the wildland team were deployed to help fight fires in California Our team and Department have a cooperative agreement with the U S Forest Service that allows us to be deployed and to re coup costs from the federal government Left Utility Terrain Vehicle UTV is used to assist the wildland team with transporting firefighters and equipment to hard to reach areas during wildland fire The department currently has two such vehicles where they are also used to help make rescues from popular hiking trails Bottom Firefighter works to extinguish a large wildland fire such as the Ferguson Fire in California 2018 or the Kennedy Fire in Luray Virginia 2019 where members of our wildland team were deployed to assist the U S Forest service Roanoke County Fire Rescue Department 2019 Annual Report 11

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RCFRD 2019 Annual Report

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