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Friendly Fire chief warns county of low on-scene staffing and long response times
Summary
Friendly Fire Chief Joe Palmer told council the department answered 298 calls in 2025 with an average on-scene staffing of 1.89 for structure fires and a countywide average of 2.45; average county response time to get a county-owned vehicle on scene was reported as 19 minutes. He urged council to review a countywide plan developed by fire chiefs.
Joe Palmer, chief of the Friendly Fire Department, told Newberry County Council that volunteer emergency responders across the county are stretched and urged council to treat upcoming presentations as a call to action. Palmer provided operational data for 2025 and urged council to regularly ask departments four basic questions about calls, on-scene staffing, response minutes, and percentage of certified personnel.
Palmer said Friendly Fire answered 298 calls in 2025 and that, for structure fires, Friendly’s average on-scene staffing from that station alone was “1.89 persons,” while the countywide average was about 2.45. He told the council it took Friendly an average of about 19 minutes to get a county-owned vehicle on the scene of a structure fire and described those results as “quite scary” and “appalling,” urging the council to consider operational changes.
Palmer said county fire chiefs and staff have developed a plan that will be presented to the public safety subcommittee in the coming months; he asked council members to review that plan and to ask operational questions when volunteer departments are recognized.
Councilmembers thanked the volunteers and acknowledged that the data justify closer attention and action. The council did not take immediate formal action on the staffing figures at this meeting, but the chief’s presentation was recorded as a formal recognition and request for follow-up.
