County expresses concerns about local fire department
Darlington County Fire District Interim Chief Ricky Flowers.
Photo by Samantha Lyles
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
After some debate at their August 15 meeting, Darlington County Council approved an automatic aid agreement with Palmetto Rural Fire Department – but not without reservations.
Palmetto Rural Fire is situated in Councilman Bobby Kilgo’s Darlington #1 District. Kilgo said that a constituent suffered a house fire last fall, and this constituent contacted Kilgo and claimed that Palmetto “did not act fast enough” when his home caught fire. Kilgo said this constituent had also contacted Senator Gerald Malloy about his concerns.
“I think we’ve got some serious problems with that department. It seems to be more of an ambulance business than a fire department,” said Kilgo.
Chief Thomas Spivey of Palmetto Rural Fire Department tells the News & Press that the home in question was two blocks from the fire department and the property loss was confined to a utility room. Spivey added that response time from his department has not suffered since Palmetto expanded into the medical transport business.
Palmetto Rural Fire Department covers a 35 square-mile area between the Darlington / Florence County line and the City of Darlington. Palmetto is a special purpose tax district, with operations funded by property taxes of homes and businesses located in their service area. The department lost about $80,000 in annual revenue when the Wellman plant closed in 2008, but Spivey says the district still generates around $225,000 in annual taxes.
Spivey says that Palmetto Rural saw medical transport as a potential new revenue source, so over the past few years the department has developed this as a sideline business, ferrying patients to and from medical treatments in four Basic Life Support ambulances.
At council, Kilgo said he worried that this split focus could be adversely affecting Palmetto’s efficacy as a fire service, and he said he would like for Chief Spivey to meet with county fire and government reps to discuss this concern.
Ricky Flowers, interim chief for Darlington County Fire District, explained that the formal aid agreement would specifically help several citizens on Anderson Farm Road who reside more than five road miles away from Darlington County Fire Station 5 – a distinction that causes those residents to pay drastically higher insurance premiums.
The mutual aid agreement would mean those residents could receive simultaneous fire service response from DCFD and Palmetto, and it would give them ISO Class 5 coverage to alleviate their homeowner’s insurance problems.
“Right now, they’re paying triple the insurance that they were, and this is the best way I could come up with to fix this problem immediately,” said Flowers.
Flowers noted that DCFD has offered a reciprocation agreement to help with some of the larger businesses along Hwy 52 in Palmetto’s coverage area. He said that, to his understanding, the ambulance service is a complementary operation using regular Palmetto personnel, and firefighters are always available to answer fire calls.
“They have about six guys that are around most of the time, and all of the ones that drive ambulances are also firefighters. I have been assured of that,” said Chief Flowers.
Kilgo asked Flowers where Chief Spivey resides, and Flowers answered that – to his knowledge – the Palmetto Rural Fire chief lives in McColl in Marlboro County.
Councilman Le Flowers noted that the mutual aid agreement does nothing to address council’s concerns about Palmetto Rural Fire, adding that a “sit-down” may still be in order.
Spivey confirmed for us that he does reside in Marlboro County. He added that trained firefighters are always available to answer Palmetto Rural fire calls, regardless of the department’s medical transport commitments, and that PRFD EMTs often roll out to help county paramedics on ambulance calls when local volunteer services can’t or won’t answer the call.
Chief Spivey also noted that since Palmetto Rural Fire Department is a special purpose tax district voted into existence by citizens and governed by a board of directors, it does not answer to Darlington County Council or the Fire District, but to its own residents and board members.
“If County Council has concerns, we have our own board meetings the first Monday of every month and County Council members need to come out here,” said Spivey.
When the matter came to a vote, council passed the Palmetto Rural Fire Department automatic aid agreement by a count of 5 to 3, with Kilgo and fellow council members Wilhelmina Johnson and Mozella “Pennie” Nicholson voting against.
Council also passed an automatic aid agreement with Alligator Fire Department, providing assurance of additional resources to fight fires along the Chesterfield / Darlington County line.
