Minutes 11/18/1988 - Laserfiche WebLink

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1988 his responsibilities- Because of vacations, injuries, and/or sickness, Mr. Asburry noted that for every seven-man shift in the department there are only 5.8 officers available- In responding to an inquiry, Chief Roop informed Council that local industries employ many people who reside in nearby jurisdictions ·(including the State of North Carolina) and that many of the department's arrests are of people from these other jurisdictions. Chief Roop then expressed "thanks" not only to his staff team for its expertise and devotion to duty but alsoIto City Council for its support. Council then adjourned to the City's main fire station where·Fire Chief Lewis Reeves presented a written document on the department's staffing, presently consisting of--in addition to Fire Chief Reeves and Fire Marshal Donald Draper--twenty-four men who operate from two fire stations in eight-men shifts, or, theoreticallY, four men per station per shift; however, because of vacations, holidays, and illnesses, Chief Reeves informed Council that on an average there are only six firemen on duty to man both stations and respond to fire alarms although, in the event of a large fire or two or more simultaneous fires, a call-back to duty of regular off-duty firemen can be resorted to and ready assistance for the several volunteer fire departments within the County of Henry is available. Even so, Chief Reeves pointed out, until such additional aid arrives at a scene, there is an interval of several minutes, critical to being able to save lives as well as to initiate fire-fighting measures, where there is not sufficient manpower- As to the role of the City's volunteer fire company, which can have as many as thirty-five members but currently has only seventeen or eighteen, its ability to ~sist when needed is severely limited because the member's employers no longer~7as they once did--