Andrews Fire

The Andrews Volunteer Fire Department has been operating since 1945. During the early years, volunteering wasn’t as big of an obligation as it is today. Call volumes were significantly lower, which meant volunteers did not have to leave work or their family as often, so when they did it was widely accepted. As the community has grown over the years and call volumes increase, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for those firefighters to be able to respond 24 hours a day. Daytime response is the biggest challenge the department faces when it comes to staffing and response. Fire personnel also have full-time jobs, many of whom work in the oil field or work out of the county, making it illogical or even impossible for them to respond from their locations. Others have jobs in the city limits, but it is not feasible for employers to allow the firefighters the time off to respond to calls. This puts a great burden on the few who are available for daytime response. This leaves a small number of people that are available during the day times that are available to respond to calls, putting a large burden on them. Due to staffing challenges, crews have frequently been exposed to greater safety risks. Often, apparatuses are deployed understaffed. Crews have done a great job making this work in order to provide the top-notch fire protection services that Andrews deserves. However, this puts firefighters at a higher risk of injury.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends having a minimum of four firefighters on a fire engine during response. Four firemen can effectively provide a full range of operations that the fire engine is capable of at a structure fire. At times, especially during the work week, it's not uncommon for AVFD to have three firemen on an engine. The NFPA also recommends having a total of 15 personnel on the scene of a low-hazard area (residential) during a structure fire. This would be a total of three engines fully staffed by AVFD. The fire department struggles to staff one engine fully, let alone 3 separate engines during the daytime. This puts crews at risk because there are not enough personnel on scene in the event of a structural collapse or firefighters getting injured. These safety concerns are primarily during the daytime, but are not expressly limited to this time frame. Firefighters are people too and have family or job commitments. While rare, it is that staffing challenges have occurred on weekends or at night times. Response Times currently, if a “tone-out” is received, firefighters have to stop what they are doing and respond to the fire station, don their PPE, and get seated in the apparatus. This is called a “turnout time”. Generally speaking, it takes an average of three minutes for a firefighter to leave their house, an average of four minutes for them to respond to the station within city limits, and one minute to don their PPE. Under ideal conditions, an AVFD firefighter could have an average turnout time of eight minutes. Evidently, several factors affect this time, such as time of day/night, traffic conditions, weather conditions, etc.

This all has to occur to get an apparatus out of the station. The fire engine then has to traverse the same traffic and respond to the scene with an average travel time of 4 minutes within the city limits. This creates a 12-minute response time to get the first fire apparatus on scene. Our firefighters have sacrificed for many years to keep this turnout time as low as possible. The national average for a volunteer department turnout time is 9 minutes. In 2024, Andrews firefighters had an average of approximately 8 minutes, exceeding the national standard for a volunteer department. AVFD has always done a great job at providing a quick and reliable service. Unfortunately, increased traffic has become more of a factor for turnout and response times. The NFPA benchmarks a turnout time for paid firefighters at 80 seconds. They also allow for a travel time of four minutes to arrive on scene. By having staffing at the station 24 hours a day, an engine could have a turnout time of 80 seconds and a travel time of 4 minutes for a total of 5 minutes and 20 seconds response time to get the first fire apparatus on scene. That would provide a cushion for the volunteers to make their turnout time and respond to the scene. Apparatus and Equipment Maintenance must be operational 24/7 in the event of an emergency. This high acuity/low frequency use requires daily operations and regular maintenance. AVFD has always performed routine maintenance as well as some repairs. While the quality of work is great, it places another burden on the already tired personnel, who must make time after calls, and in between calls, to go to the fire station and perform the necessary maintenance or repairs.
Having paid staffing available 24 hours a day could allow daily operation, checks, maintenance, and repair of equipment and apparatus, taking much of the burden away from volunteer personnel.