County Approves Changes To Fire Vehicle Standards

SNOW HILL – County officials approved changes expected to ease some of the challenges facing volunteer fire companies this week.

The Worcester County Commissioners voted to amend the standards for chartered volunteer fire companies Tuesday. One of the key changes made will allow companies to keep fire engines more than 30 years old as long as they pass inspection.

“This resolution’s been around since 1977,” said Worcester County Fire Marshal Jeff McMahon. “This will be the first time it’s ever been proposed to be changed.”

The changes made came as a result of a meeting held in November between the commissioners and representatives from the local volunteer fire companies. McMahon said the fire chiefs had suggested a dozen changes to the county’s standards. While 11 of them were minor, essentially updating the pieces of equipment carried by firefighters, the primary change requested related to extending the life of qualifying fire engines. Previously, the standards required companies to have at least one pumper (fire engine) that was less than 20 years old and no qualifying pumper more than 30 years old. McMahon said that forced companies to replace pumpers when they hit the 30-year mark, regardless of their condition.

Ocean Pines Deputy Fire Chief Bill Bounds said the secondary pumpers operated by small companies weren’t used frequently and typically stayed in good condition in spite of age. He said the requirement forced those companies to buy new equipment just because their vehicles reached 30 years old.

“They’re having to get rid of equipment that’s still very useful and functional because of a timeframe,” he said.

McMahon said that while he couldn’t speak for all fire companies, at his own, volunteers had spent close to two years preparing to replace a 30-year-old engine. The new engine cost roughly $700,000 and the old one with only 18,000 miles had been donated to a needy company in another state.

Because of situations like that one, local chiefs suggested changing the standards so that secondary pumpers could remain in service regardless of age as long as they pass a Department of Transportation inspection and a pump inspection at the 30-year mark and every five years thereafter.

“There is a cost to that but it’s nowhere near the cost of replacing a piece of apparatus,” McMahon said.

The commissioners voted 6-0 to approve the changes to the standards.

About The Author: Charlene Sharpe

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Charlene Sharpe has been with The Dispatch since 2014. A graduate of Stephen Decatur High School and the University of Richmond, she spent seven years with the Delmarva Media Group before joining the team at The Dispatch.