“One of the biggest reasons for building the new station is to be able to house 24-hour staffing which we cannot do at our current location,” said Gearhart. In 2018 there were 563 calls in 2019, 540 calls during COVID in 2020, 562 calls and year-to-date for 2021, 288 calls, which is more than prior years January through June. The number of calls has generally increased, too. In 2018 average response time, was 8:23 minutes in 2019 11:03 minutes in 2020 it was 12:31 minutes and year-to-date for 2021 is 13:04 minutes. Over the years, the amount of time it takes to respond has increased. And like everyone else on the road, traffic affects the time it takes us to get to the destination,” he said. “When volunteers answer a call, they must first come to the department from wherever they are – home or work – then we go to the call.

Volunteers get $15 per fire call nothing for other-type calls.Īccording to HF&R Chief Ryan Gearhart, due to an increase in people, the number of calls has basically increased year after year and with an increase in people comes an increase in the number of vehicles on the road. Of those, 15 are assigned to the main station and four at the substation on Cherrywood Drive. Highlands’ volunteer force has the minimum 19 required members who each have to have a minimum of 36 hours of training. It’s getting harder and harder to get volunteers to man a fire & rescue department when responding to calls means leaving workplaces during the day and leaving families during the night. The answer is the same all over the state. The foremost question is “Why does Highlands Fire & Rescue need a bigger building?’ A new home for the Fire & Rescue Department has been in the works for about three years, and now that construction is underway people have lots of questions.

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