Updates
Under Spring Hill Fire Rescue District I forgot to mention that the Counties only Technical Rescue Team is stationed at Station 3. Every dept. member, officer and firefighter/paramedic or emt assigned to that station on all shifts is a Qualified/Fully Trained member of the TRT, that is why they have Squad 3, a full sized GMC Suburban and a trailer that carries all thier TRT gear. One of the Lts. at Station 3 also has a certified Rescue Dog that works each and every shift with him, the Dogs name is Nelson and his handler is Lt. Wilson. They are available at all times for assignments anywhere in Spring Hill Fire Rescue District or Hernando County as well as Mutual Aid assignments to other counties as needed.
Brooksville City Fire Department and Northwest Fire Rescue firefighter/paramedics or emts are trained and qualified for confined space rescue assignments.
East Hernando Fire Rescue District Capt. DC20 is the County specialist on Brush and Wildland Fires and has members of Spring Hill Fire Rescue, Northwest Fire Rescue, East Hernando and South Central Fire Rescue members trained and equipped for Brush and Wildland fire operations within the county and also available for assignments from Florida Division of Forestry or US Forest Service Service assignments and have worked in various areas of the State of Florida and various assignments throughout the USA over the past several years.
Also, East Hernando, Northwest, South Central and Spring Hill Fire Rescue District shifts comprise of a Lt. and a firefighter/driver on each Engine, each shift. Spring Hill Fire Rescue District Rescues have a Paramedic and EMT or two Paramedics, some of the Paramedics are also Registered Nurses, assigned to each Rescue each shift, also each engine is an ALS Certified Engine Company in Spring Hill.
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16 May 2000 Update
Just a little update.. Almost all Engine Companies in the entire county, no matter what dept. affiliations are basically E-Ones of various ages, some FMC's, a couple of Segraves and a couple of Pierce's. All, well at least almost all that I know of at NFPA/ISO class "A" pumpers with minimuns of 1000 gpm pumps and 1000 gal. water tanks with the exception of Tankers which range from 1500 gallons capacity to 3000 gallon capacity.
The glaring exception is the ARF-1 Unit at South Central Fire Dept. as this is a Crash Rescue Truck provided to the Dept. by the FAA and other federal agencies having to do with Fire/Rescue protection of inbound and outbound aircraft and the related facilities on the airport, however this truck does mutual aid responses within the county when its special services such as Foam or Dry Chemical suppressants may be needed for whatever purposes.
The normal manpower assigned to all engines is a Lt. and a Firefighter/Engineer. Spring Hill Resuces and Florida Regional Ambulances are normally staffed with one Paramedic and one EMT.
The Volunteer Companies exceed these manpower levels with usually 3 or 4 personell on the engine when it rolls out on any call and if its a report of a structure fire they respond with 2 or 3 engines (whatever they have) and a squad as well as manpower that arrives via private vehicle only if they arrived at the station too late to catch the apparatus. No volunteers are allowed to carry firefighting gear in their own personal vehicles so they have to report to the station to try and make the trucks or get their gear and then respond in their personal vehicles which must be parked off the road and away from the firelines setup but local Sheriffs Deputies or Fire Police, they do not receive any special privilages to drive their own vehicles inside the fire lines, they must don their gear at the vehicle and then walk accross the fire line to report to a command staff officer for accountability reasons.
Use of red lights on private vehicles varies dept to dept. High Point allows first responders to use red lights on POV's when responding to Medical calls but for fire calls all FF's who are also First Responders must respond to the station without use of Redlights. Sirens are no allowed on private vehicles by state law for Volly's which I think is a reasonable law for POV responses, keeps the adreniline down a little bit...
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3 August 2000
Two Fires for B Shift in Spring Hill last night - Two good stops by Spring Fire Rescue crews last night in Hernando County...
Fire # 1 - Last night "B" shift had what could have been a significant commercial fire. Units were dispatched at 2004 hours to 404 Suzanne Dr for smoke coming from the Mini Golf Building. Lt. Barry Ryczek, E!, reported light smoke showing on arrival. E1 was positioned near the hydrant for supply and a 200' 1 3/4" line was deployed. A search of the attic and entire building was initiated. It was several minutes before the fire was discovered in the soffit of the northwest corner of the two story building.
Fire broke out of the soffit for a few minutes as the line was repositioned. It was quickly extinguished. The fact that Lt. Ryczek had the foresight to deploy a line even though there was no fire evident assured that the blaze was extinguished before spreading. Had this event occurred after closing it surely would have been more for the crews to handle.
E1, R1, E2, R2, E3, D/C1
Fire # 2 - This morning at 0546 hours "B" shift units were dispatched to 5319 Moongate Rd for a house fire. R2 arrived first to report heavy smoke showing. Residents were already evacuated. Lt. Joe Bonczek, E2, established Command and had crews advance a 1 3/4" line through the front door. Tanker 12 (running as E12) was second in. A second line was from this unit was advanced to the sliding glass doors at the rear of the house. R4 filed out the assignment.
D/C1 (Bob Hampton) requested a third engine and E4 was dispatched. . Command requested more manpower and E1 and R1 were sent. Interior crews found fire spreading from the kitchen into the garage and living area. The fire was stopped before the arrival of any of the backup companies. E1 was cancelled. � REHAB1 was dispatched. The house received heavy smoke damage throughout. Interior crews located the pet dog and rescued him. Some fire extended to the roof area at the vent for the stove. Damages will exceed $25,000.
Good stop by "B" shift !!
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1 September 2000 Updates
Well as of October 1, 2000, Hernando County Fire Rescue will be operational. This will encompass the East Hernando, Northwest Hernando and South Central Fire Departments as they now exist and be expanded to include expansion of the Fire Depts. to include the takeover by the County of the Florida Regional EMS, the present provider of Ambulance Service to the entire county with the exception of Spring Hill Fire and Rescue.
The former chief of Northwest FD, Chief Mike Nickerson, is the new County Fire Rescue Chief and his Chief of Operations will be Chief Danny Roberts, formerly chief of the East Hernando and South Central FD's.
For the time being the three volunteer depts. in the county, High Point VFD, Hernando Beach VFD and TriCounty VFD will remain independant as will the Brooksville City FD (a paid dept.) however there are already efforts underway to take over all of the above and incorporate them into the County Fire Rescue System. Should be an interesting year to say the least.
An update on Northwest Hernando Engine 12, they have just received a 2000 Pierce Pumper with Rescue rollup doors (nothing furthur, this engine is not yet in service, just sitting outside engine 12's quarters). This is the second new engine received by Northwest this year. Last March or April NWFD Engine 13 received a new E-One (Freightliner 4 Door Chasis) 4 wheel drive Pumper. The response area of E-13 is mostly rural with lots of unpaved roads and trails through wooded areas.
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28 September 2000 Updates
Effective at 0001 hrs on October 1, 2000 there will be a change over from individual Fire Departments and Ambulance Service within Hernando County. At present, Ambulance Service (with the exception of Spring Hill Fire Rescue) is dispatched from the Florida Regional EMS office on Broad St. (US-19) in Brooksville (north of the US-19/SR-50 intersection) and all Fire Departments in the County (with the exception of Brooksville City FD and Tri-County VFD) are dispatched by Spring Hill Fire Rescue Dispatch Center on Bob Hartung Ct. near intersection of Deltona Blvd and Forrest Oaks Blvd.
Brooksville FD and PD have their own dispatch center (PSAP) at their HQ on West Jefferson St. and Tri-County VFD is dispatched by Sumter County Sheriffs Office on 154.370mhz. upon notification by either Spring Hill Fire Rescue or Florida Regional EMS Dispatch.
Effective as noted above, Florida Regional EMS will be eliminated as the newly formed Hernando County Fire Rescue will take over ambulance service for all areas in the county with the exception of that area serviced by Spring Hill Fire Rescue - and they will be dispatched by Spring Hill Fire Rescue for at least the next three years.
Also on the date mentioned, East Hernando Fire Rescue, Northwest Fire Rescue and South Central Fire Rescue (located at Hernando County Airport on US 19 south of the Spring Hill Dr. intersection) will all become known as Hernando County Fire Rescue. At this time there is no known changes to the numbering of Engines, Squads, Tankers, etc. or the station numbering systems presently designated. Sta 11, 12 13 (currently Northwest FD), Sta 21, 22 (currently East Hernando FD) and Sta 41 (Hernando County Airport).
There will however be a revamping of ALS unit designators (Currently ALS-13 East Hernando district, ALS-14 Brooksville district, ALS-15 Northwest District and ALS-16 Hernando Beach District, ALS-17 [12 hour floating truck] and District 3 [Florida Regional Command for Hernando County]) will be impacted.
At present time, as far as I know, ALS-13 will become Rescue 22 as it will be stationed at the present Fire Station 22, ALS-14 will become Rescue 14 and remain at their present location at the current ALS Dispatch Center in Brooksville, ALS-15 will become Rescue 11 stationed at present Fire Station 11 on Barclay Ave south of SR 50, ALS-16 will become Rescue 16 and remain at their present location at the Shoal Line Blvd. location, nothing is known at present what numbers will be assigned to ALS-17 or District 3 as current with the Florida Regional EMS operations.
This is a wholesale changeover within Hernando County. Chief Mike Nickerson (currently Chief 10 of Northwest Fire Rescue) has been appointed Chief of the Hernando County Fire Rescue, Chief Danny Roberts (currently Chief 20 of East Hernando and South Central FD's) has been appointed as Operations Chief. The callsign of DC-1 will remain with the Spring Hill District Captain on duty (DC-1A, DC-1B and DC-1C when off duty are used for Spring Hill Capts corresponding with the groups they normally work with), DC-10 (again A-B-C) will remain the Captains of the present Northwest FD and DC-20 (the only captain in the present East Hernando/South Central Districts and on call 24 hours a day).
There may actually be more changes as the October 1 date approaches and I will post them, if the list [TampaBayTRS@egroups.com] is interested, as I learn of them. After Oct. 1, when posting incidents to the list, I will then identify units working an incident as being, ie: Hernando County Engine ## and Hernando County Rescue ## instead of the individual FD's as I currently do. If an incident involves Brooksville City FD, High Point VFD, Hernando Beach VFD or Tri-County VFD, I will identify them as such to help users understand the area of the county involved and of course if Mutual Aid units from Citris, Pasco and Sumter Counties are involved within Hernando County they will be Identified as being from their respective FD's.
For example should an incident involving Hernando County Fire Rescue and Hernando Beach VFD be posted, I will ID them as Hernando County FR Engine ## and Hernando Beach FD Engine ## and County Rescue (if its a County Unit) or SHFR Rescue or Engine # (single number units used by SHFR), or perhaps HCFR E-##, HDFR R-## if its a real active incident for brevity. I appologize for the long post, this is something totally new to myself and the county and may take a bit of time to get it all correctly presented in easy to understand terminology.
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Updated - 16 May 00 - 03Aug00 Spring Hill Stops 2 - 01Sept00 - Updates - 28Sept00 - Update
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