Edisto Beach Fire Department Running With Two People

It's an old adage, one the fire service is trying to move away from but if you only have two people on duty per shift the mantra is usually "make it work!" On Edisto Beach the fire department (not to be confused with St. Paul's) often runs with two people per shift to handle everything.

It seems the feeling is St. Paul's is on their way and will provide enough manpower but what happens when St. Paul's is at another fire? How can two people make it happen when they aren't in a position to perform any duties? For lack of a better phrase the practice is dangerous.

The Routley Report and other studies have shown that a dearth of personnel makes firefighting more dangerous. Can we correctly assume no offensive attack can be mounted?

Think about a recall for a hurricane still days away. If everyone shows up you have enough people to fill out a standard engine crew with 2 left over. How do you explain the lack of response to home owners who pay handsome prices to live near the ocean? What do you say to a widow if a firefighter goes down with no one around to assist?

There's a better way.

Comments

[Topeka Joe]

I am glad that I do not have a residence in Edisto.

[Colleton Medic]

just a bit more info. the fd is trying to go 3 guys a shift but the call volume really doesn't dictate that they need it. Colleton fire rescue responds on every fire call with edisto fd so that makes 4 responding along with volunteers and the chief. st pauls also is notified but they do have an extended eta. I'm sure chief waddle is working on growing a bigger dept. give them time.

[fire]

someone needs to take a close look at folly beach FD ! i know the cops are all 1152 cirt. but come on ! i mean its as bad as only one firefighter on duty sometimes ! they are tring to go fulltime but hey its still going on. one man on duty to run two pumpers and a rescue truck. NOT SAFE AT ALL.(how many cops you know fight fire )

[Jim Wilk]

Why do we continue to justify having two guys on a rig by relying on mutual aid? I think we are cutting our own throats with this argument. As every report or study out there says we need at least four people per rig. Politicians are getting smarter in understanding mutual aid. A trustee in a town near me in Illinois said they should rely more on mutual aid instead of hiring replacements for recent retirements.

[Matt Gorman]

To Colleton Medic,
I have probably worked with most of yall when I worked for Edisto Beach and I want to say that yall are some of the best help that Edisto can have, but 4 people fighting a structure fire on the beach is dangerous. Yes they do have volunteers coming if they are around, but most of them are not certified for structural firefighting or getting up in age to where they can't do the job efficiently. As far as the Chief, He is going to have his hands full trying to control the command post and that is if he is on the beachd during the day time considdering he lives in North Charleston and is off on the weekends. Also what if their is someone hurt within the first 5-10 minutes of the fire, Where is the next medic unit, Greenpond? Walterboro? Charleston County Medic 8 and 14 who we know are known to pulled to West Ashley or Johns Island and their districts left wide open? Don't get me wrong, This comment is not made to attack you, Colleton, or the fire fighters but some things(alot of things) need to change for the safety of the fireman and the public of that town. I also want to say that the fireman of that department are some of the best fireman you can work with and do everything they can with the most minimal of help. I hope that things do get better and safer for them.

[Annie]

I don't want to play devil's advocate here; I'm really just wondering- how much does Edisto start at? LAst time I checked it was the lower 20's, but that was a year or so ago. And also, does the Edisto chief really live in N. Chuck????????

[Colleton Medic]

matt you are correct in everything you said. in a perfect world we all would have 4 guys on am engine and 4 on the ladder but we all know that is not happening any time soon. call volume just doesn't dictate that at the beach. hard to justify paying 4 on duty guys all year when majority of calls are in the summer and that lasts for about 3 months. the volunteers are something to be desired lol. very nice ppl but nice won't stuff out the fire. wish their was an easy solution but their isnt. as far as if someone gets hurt we have a directive in place that covers that. paramedic on the medic unit doesn't make entry. he is responsible for any injuries and medical monitori. he can also assist where needed as long as if stays outside. not perfect I know but it's something. and annie yes its true the chief does live in north chuck but asst chief and lt both live on the island.

[Modern Rescue]

Yes... Chief Waddle lives off Dorchester Road near NCFD Station 11.

[Matt Gorman]

Colleton Medic,
Your correct in some ways also but I know that that town can afford to put at least two more fireman on duty but choose not to because they don't want to get off the money. Chief Mills(the chief before Waddle), if I am not mistaken, tried to apply for a grant to also assist the town in paying more fireman before he left but the town still would not go for it. I know about their call volume and Chief Mills was on the right track of fixxing that but when he left things started going down hill on that subject. All this no matter what is not an excuse for the lack of safety for the fireman and citizens. I don't expect them to staff trucks up to par with NFPA standards because that is going to be virtually impossible because of what you said the call volume, but they can help things by hiring even just two more per shift since the don't have the desired volunteer stats they need to make the department effective. NOT asking for a miracle just improvement in the right direction. These Are alot of the reasons that I left from that department and hope to see some changes.

[former standrews ff]

When st andrews going to get a dispatcher at st andrews? The one has screwed up more than anyone but gets a pass because the chief is scared. Oh yeah the boys on b shift are protecting her. Well two of them are. We laugh at it listening to it in our stations.

[Chief V]

For the guys @ Edisto Beach FD. You guys are definitely facing an uphill battle. You, with Chief Waddle leading, need to make every person who lives on the island aware of your situation. Put the ball in their court & through what ever means you need, be it video's, power point, overheads, what ever, make them aware of the situation & TELL them what you ARE and what you AREN'T capable of doing. I would strongly suggest one of the first things to do is try to at least get 4 people on duty every shift. Then let the citizens know we can assist you with medical calls, some rescue calls, and we can protect surrounding residences (exposures) when faced with a fire on the island. But under NO cirumstance ARE you ABLE to fight a fire in anybodies residence or business on the island due to the manpower situation. I do agree with you statement about the lack of call volume & not getting 4 on an engine & 4 on a truck; so you have to go with what you have. Once you make the citizen's aware of this situation, you stick to your guns and under NO circustance do you guys play JOHN WAYNE & attempt to fight a fire; you should attempt a rescue of a trapped occupant, but only if you have a minimum of 4 on-scene, but again, NO LIFE HAZARD, NO ENTRY! Also, you should work very hard at trying to build up the number of volunteers for the department. I don't know the demographics on the island, so I'm not aware of whether you have enough younger residents who can make up the volunteers but your statement about the current volunteers being past their prime is something that needs to be addressed also (no knock on them, because hey, they're still trying), but you have to infuse some younger guys into the department to help with the manpower issues.

Chief V

[The Tenth firefighter]

Just remember safety first. Your safety. If you don't have the staff to do whats needed,then you need to be an "out-standing" fire dept.Stay safe.

[Matt Gorman]

The Edisto Beach Fire Dept. just got another truck that cannot be manned and in my appinion is useles to the dept. at this time. This is a Brush Truck that they are calling a squad truck. This truck just cost them about $85,000.00 and from what I have understood from reliable sources is that it is expected to be used as a quick attack truck for some structure fires. This is enough money to support at lest 3-4 more pesonnel for a year to opperate the apparatus they already have. It is a vehicle that may be useful later on down the road to help bring up the call volume by assisting St. Paul's Fire with brush fires on Edisto Island, But the personnel should have been more important at this point. God bless Edisto Beach Firefighters and good luck.

[Colleton Medic]

Hey Matt, you bring up a good point. I haven't been down to the beach for a few months, but if what you say is true, what a waste of money. How many brush fires do they really fight yearly? Money should have been spent on personel. I think they might have also bought that vehicle for medical calls. I have not seen it but I was told by the "LT" at that dept. they were looking to buy a squad truck so she could first respond to medical calls once she became a paramedic. Well I'm not trying to out anyone but last time I checked she hadn't passed her Registry yet. Plus they were talking about buying a LP12 Monitor. WTF! That's like 25,000. AED would work just fine for what Edisto FD would use it for. They don't carry front line cardiac drugs so what good would a cardiac monitor do? They barley carry or supply there own first aid equiptment. Now don't get me wrong. I love the guys and gals at the dept. but they should def. spend their money wisely. Oh and btw Matt, there is a lovely volunteer on the beach. I believe her name is Bonnie. A very helpful woman on scene. LOL.

[Matt Gorman]

I have to say that I was told today that the chief for Edisto Beach has desided to use the truck now to run medical calls. Now I think if the purpose was to run medical calls then a truck that cost exceptionally less could have been purchased with a service body on to hold minor rescue equipment and medical supplies for that purpose. A truck fit for that job would have been lighter, more fuel efficient, and cheaper in cost. BUT this still will not help the need of PERSONNEL. For colleton medic I appreciate the comment on both subjects. Also the chief is already spending more money on things for the new truck such as chrome wheel covers. I also had the comment made to me that the chief said this truck would help their ISO rating. Get real. Personnel is the main thing that can help their ISO rating enough to lower it maybe one more point than it already is.

[Colleton Medic]

Wow! Some people just don't get it. Spending all that money on a first responder vehicle is retarded. Especially when most of them are not medically trained beyond first responder. Now I know there are some in the basic program and that is great. I commend them for that. I just think they need to save that money and spend it on people. You can't count the medic crew on the island as your second set of personel. We might not be there. Then you are waiting for the medic unti from Green Pond. And god forbid you have to use Charleston's crews. LOL. I think Matt hit it right on the head. Edisto FD has a good front line truck, a good ladder truck ( great for handing the xmas lights on the island LOL), and a good back up engine. What else do they need other than more people on shift and maybe a bigger station to house all of them. What good is a first responder unit when you don't even have your own supplies and have to depend on the medic crews supplies. Chief really should have put some thought behind this purchase. Chief is a really nice guy. Not sure who talked him into this purchase but really don't think it was a wise one.

[Goldstein]

Waddell is living in a dream world. Maybe he ought to go back to Oklahoma and ask for his old job back. Oh yeah, they don't like him their either.

[Colleton Medic]

Goldstein, I'm not sure people do not like Waddell. From my experience he is a really nice guy. Whether or not he bit off more than he could chew in N Chuck, I don't know. He must have been qualified since they hired him. He has made some dumb decisions, both on and off the fire scene, but then again who hasn't. I give him credit for taking on a job most wouldn't have taken with the salary they hand out ( if you can call it a salary) their on Edisto. I'm sure I make more than he does but he wants to make that dept. a bigger and better one than the one he came into. It takes time so let's see what he can do. Hopefully he realized he might have made a mistake with this purchase. We will see.

[Wendy]

I work on Edisto Beach. In the mornings when it is getting close to the 8 am Hour you can be passed on Hwy 174 by the chief with lights running and all until he gets to the Plmetto Road entrance where it changes over to Edisto Town Limits.