(ROCKWALL, TX – Aug. 18, 2016) The City of Rockwall welcomed an open dialogue between residents and the county’s first responders during a public meeting held at The Center on Tuesday, Aug. 16. Rockwall Police Chief Kirk Riggs, Fire Marshal Ariana Hargrove and Fire Department Chief Mark Poindexter gave presentations on each of their departments before opening it up to questions and comments from citizens in attendance.
A topic of concern among many of the residents regarded the operational budget for the city’s fire department. In his presentation, Poindexter highlighted the financial benefits which having a fire department staff made up of mostly volunteers has brought to the city and its residents.
“What do our volunteer firefighters really do for this city? If we were fully paid today, basically it would cost us in salaries and benefits $9,085,263 a year,” Poindexter said. “Today, for our full time staff, salaries and benefits equates to $3,022,000. That’s a savings of $5,963,000. In 2015, that would’ve made your taxes increase 15 percent, and what does that mean for you as a homeowner or business owner? On a $200,000 piece of property, it would increase your property taxes $309. That’s what your volunteers are saving you every year.”
The Rockwall Fire Department currently has 48 part time volunteer staff, with 24 of those staff members working as full time firemen in other cities. The City of Rockwall has four total fire stations – one off Quail Run up north, one by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Rockwall on Rockwall Parkway, one on South Goliad across from The Rise, and one behind the post office off Boydstun. Two personnel at a time man each of the stations, barring Fire Station #3 which only has one person manning the station.
That last statistic certainly didn’t sit well with a couple concerned firefighters in the audience.
“When I look at the city budget and see a $30-million operational budget, I see a $10-million operational budget for our police – and they deserve that,” said Beau Jackson, a firefighter for the Lancaster Fire Department and resident of Rockwall. “But then I look at the fire department and there’s a $3-million operational budget. We have four fire stations, beautiful fire trucks costing $600,000 to $1 million, we have fire boats, we have all the tools in this city. But we don’t have any people, and people are what cities and communities are built on.”
Ryan Clark, Rockwall resident and paid career firefighter for the City of Plano, echoed Jackson’s sentiments regarding the lack of fire department personnel. “I would like to hear a justification about how one person manning a station within a major apparatus is acceptable, or how we continue to stay at that point? How do we continue to justify that with the amount of growth we’re seeing, with new neighborhoods going in, new streets, new additions, but we don’t have personnel?”
“I think growth and the number of calls play into some of that, Ryan,” responded City Manager Rick Crowley. “On the other hand the ability to respond to calls with more than just one person is important as well. So that is an issue we will be discussing as we look into the budget this year.”
Richard Taylor, a retired Houston arson investigator, voiced his concerns about the lack of a first responder unit within the city’s fire department. The first responder unit, Taylor said, fills the gap on critical emergencies – a stroke, heart attack, ect. – whenever EMS gets busy responding to other calls, and administers basic life support until an ambulance can arrive.
“At the present time Rockwall does not have that first responder coverage through the fire department, whereas we’re surrounded by departments in other towns that administer this service,” Taylor said. “Two years ago the council and then-Mayor David Sweet said they were looking into it, and here two years later we still don’t have it. I enjoy the $309 savings, but if my wife were having a heart attack or stroke I would gladly pay $309 to have somebody there within minutes when it really counts.”
Poindexter said that with EMS responding to about 170-175 calls a month, running a first responder service would stretch the department’s volunteers and equipment too thin.
“As we’ve started putting on paid staff, I’ve always said I do not want one fireman showing up to an EMS call by himself. It puts him in a bad situation. If we get to where there’re two people manning each station, then I have no problem running first responder calls on major medical emergencies. On sick calls, it will run us in the dirt, it will run our equipment to death and you will start seeing that equipment begin failing fast.
“We’re continuing to look at the issue of first responder in a limited type force and we are working through that. Right now the way it’s set up, we pay for ambulance service countywide through a county contract through the Emergency Services Corporation, and that provides EMS service to all of Rockwall County.”
“I think the comments on the fire department are very well taken,” said Rockwall City Councilman Dennis Lewis. “That’s not a new issue. I’ve been on council for four and half years and it’s been an issue since I’ve been on council. Are we going to have a full time fire department next year? No we’re not. That takes time. There needs to be a plan put in place, and I agree that there needs to be two people manning Fire Station #3.”
Despite an increase in calls from previous years (roughly 100-110 calls per month) the Rockwall Fire Department continues to serve the community effectively and efficiently, with zero fatalities occurring from fires in Rockwall in the last 10 years.
Story and photos by Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News editor/senior reporter.
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