While work continues on the Midway Fire Department’s home, the fire department has been at work, Chief Craig Reynolds told city council members.
The fire department isn’t back into its quarters on Highway 84 yet, but the re-born department is back answering calls.
During the day, the department is on a scene within four minutes and at night, its response time has been about six minutes.
“Our response time is phenomenal,” Chief Reynolds said. “It is fantastic. Our response time is right on target. The community deserves that.”
Since getting re-certified by the Georgia Fire Standards Training Council in August, the department has not had to answer a call on a structure fire, but there have been responses to car accidents. Chief Reynolds noted they responded to an ATV striking a parked car that left two people badly hurt earlier this month but they couldn’t be flown to Memorial Health University Center in Savannah because of conditions. Midway firefighters also responded to an accident Monday morning just east of city hall in which the driver survived but the vehicle was totaled.
“I’m just excited we are continuing to go forward with the fire department,” Mayor pro tem Dr. Clemontine Washington said.
The department also had to respond recently to an accident at 84 and Bacontown Road that required fire fighters to use the jaws of life.
As for its building, the drywall is in, city engineer Trent Long told council members, and the overhead garage doors are expected to be delivered in early November. The doors, Long said, require a long lead time.
But the building could be ready for the department’s trucks and personnel before Christmas, Long said.
The department has secured its certificate of compliance, though GFSTC would like to see how the department responds to a structure fire, Washington added. But there haven’t been any, Chief Reynolds reiterated, and the department hopes there isn’t one coming.
“We don’t want them,” he said. “We are adamant about providing fire protection service to the community. We have the equipment and the manpower you need.”