Berkeley County reports 24-hour career staffing at volunteer stations; officials cite faster responses and grant data capture

The Berkeley County Commission heard a report from the fire chief that the county is more than 30 days into 24-hour career staffing across five main volunteer fire stations and that the change has produced immediate response improvements. The fire chief told commissioners the arrangement puts two career firefighters at each station 24 hours a day and a duty lieutenant on shift to provide command and continuity; he said the change eliminated delays in engine response and produced faster dispatch-to-arrival times compared with the period before the staffing change. "We are responding immediately as the call is dispatched," the fire chief said, and reported the county captured 360 calls for the five volunteer stations in July using the ESO reporting system. The chief said automatic mutual aid is now reflected in the reporting, which will make it easier to document calls and support future federal grant applications such as SAFER. The chief also said the transition has allowed the department to show the proper call types and response data needed for grant work and that promotion and staffing adjustments have reduced the chief's administrative burden. Why this matters: continuous career staffing at previously volunteer-run stations changes response capacity, record-keeping and eligibility for federal grant programs. County officials said better data capture will aid future grant applications and help document services for the public. Details and next steps: the chief said he is refining response-time statistics and will return with more precise data. Commissioners expressed support and thanked department personnel. No formal action or budget vote was recorded; the presentation was informational and followed by appreciation from commissioners.