New Beulah Fire Station will Remain a Volunteer Station

Folks were concerned and I was approached.  Apparently there were rumors flying around that I supported changing the way the Beulah Fire station was going to be operated after the old facility was decommissioned and the new one opened.  

One individual with whom I spoke even told me the volunteers who run that station currently with the assistance of a full time day shift crew were given notice that the station would become all professionally staffed once the new facility is opened.   And that I supported that?!?

That was news to me--and nothing could be further from the truth.  

So I have subsequently spoken to multiple others affiliated with that station who have told me, unequivocally, that the current arrangement is working well; this is a combination station that is functioning properly with a day shift of career firefighters running calls during the day Monday thru Friday and the ample volunteer component running the evening and weekend calls.

"We haven't missed one call, not one" said a volunteer at the station with whom I spoke at an event this week in Beulah. "So why are they doing this to us--we don't miss calls?"  he asked me.

My response was straightforward:  "They're not going to do this."

Apparently there was going to be a move to make the station fully professional and manned 24/7 with carreer staff after the construction--but after speaking with several senior administrative staff members and voicing my extreme disapproval of such a plan---I have been told subsequently it will remain volunteer run after the changeover.  

That is a relief to hear--as in many respects this new station will be a great recruiting tool for volunteers, and Beulah has a rich history as a station that has typically had a robust volunteer roster.  I, along with many others, would like to see that continue forward after we cut the ribbon on the new station, which will be named in honor of two Volunteer Firefighters who served at the station.

So as of this writing, once the new Station 2, the Bradshaw McNair Fire Station, opens in Beulah in January----the staffing model will remain as it has been:  a combination station run by the volunteers with a day time staff of career firefighters.  I mean, why change something that is working so well?

I suggest we utilize the career staff that were slated to move into Station 2 in other areas of the county where perhaps there is greater need for coverage and where calls are missed.