In a continued effort to improve emergency response services in the area, Walker and Whitfield counties have signed an agreement to help improve response times in the more secluded areas of the two counties.
Walker County Fire Chief Blake Hodge said the county has similar agreements with other counties, and this new agreement with Whitfield will improve emergency response times for residential and commercial fires within five miles of the Walker-Whitfield county line.
The two-year, automatic-aid agreement states that the Whitfield County Fire Department will respond to commercial and residential fires in Walker County that are within five miles of the county line and Walker County Emergency Services will do the same for Whitfield County. Hodge said this includes Walker's unincorporated community of Villanow.
"I'm of the opinion there should not be boundaries anywhere," Hodge said. "The closest appropriate response should be provided for citizens despite the boundaries."
Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said the county has a mutual-aid agreement in place with Whitfield and other counties as part of the Tri-State Mutual Aid Association, which includes 47 fire and rescue agencies in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, but this new agreement will ensure that firefighters in Walker and Whitfield are simultaneously dispatched to fires when the call is first received - not just respond if backup is needed, like in a mutual-aid agreement.
"We will both respond at any time and all the time, no hesitation," Whitfield said.
The primary benefit of having both counties automatically respond to fires in that area, he explained, is that it will double the number of responding engines and firefighters, ensuring better safety for both citizens and first responders.
"When local government can work together with automatic-aid agreements, it's a win-win for everybody," Whitfield said.
Whitfield County has a station just three miles from the county line that could quickly provide support for a fire in Walker if needed, said Hodge.
In regards to public safety, shaving minutes off response times means a lot. The maximum recommended response time to a fire is around four minutes for the first engine to arrive on the scene, according to the National Fire Protection Agency.
"A fire doubles in size based on the fuel load of the fire every minute," Hodge said. "If you have a house that is a kitchen fire when it's called in, but you are 25 minutes away, then that house is probably going to be fully involved when you arrive."
Per the new automatic-aid agreement, fire personnel from both counties will complete quarterly training sessions together.
Fire investigations will still be done by the respective counties.
Walker County has been working to continuously improve fire services this past year. Hodge said the county is also looking to improve longstanding fire service agreements with other neighboring counties, like Catoosa, and implementing more agreements.
The county also remodeled a fire station in Flintstone to include living quarters so it could house full-time firefighters. And Whitfield said during last year's "State of the County" address that repurposing brush trucks as quick-response vehicles for medical calls has saved the county time and money.
"It's taking assets and resources we already had in our inventory and better utilizing that to operate more efficiently and to deliver a faster response time," Whitfield said.
Email Allison Shirk at allisonshirk92@gmail.com