Monday, December 3, 2012
The new Fire Rescue Reserve Responder Program will be the major topic of discussion at a series of upcoming community meetings.
While the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department will change the way it operates as of Jan. 1, that doesn’t mean Hillsborough County isn’t interested in having some extra hands to help out around its stations. Fire Rescue Chief Ron Rogers is so serious about keeping volunteers in the mix, he’s scheduled a number of upcoming public meetings to discuss his agency’s new reserve responder program. The first of five meetings takes place Monday, Dec. 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the Brandon Regional Service Center, 311 Pauls Dr., Brandon. A Lutz meeting is set for Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lutz Community Center, 98 1st Ave. N.W. During the meetings, Rogers and other representatives from fire rescue will discuss such topics as: Hillsborough County …
Friday, November 16, 2012
Yesterday. county commissioners approved a proposal to do away with traditional volunteer fire department and establish a reserve program.
It took Hillsborough County commissioners just a few minutes to do away with a 60-year-old tradition. In a unanimous vote Thursday, Nov. 16, commissioners agreed to extinguish the county's traditional volunteer fire department system and replace it with a reserve responder program. This means the county's six formerly volunteer fire stations, including the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Station at 4705 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico, will be staffed by career firefighters starting Jan. 1. However, under the reserve responder program, there still will be plenty of opportunities for volunteers to serve, said Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogersl "Volunteers have been providing service for 60 years but it is time for change," Rogers told …
Thursday, November 15, 2012
While there will still be a place for volunteers in Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, their roles will change dramatically under a proposal that calls for adding 78 new career positions at a cost of $5.2 million.
Volunteer fire departments may be a thing of the past in Hillsborough County. A proposal that goes before the Hillsborough County Commission today, Nov. 15, calls for discontinuing “the use of volunteers to staff primary apparatus at the remaining volunteer stations,” including the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department, 4705 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico, according to a report from Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. That plan also calls on the commission to agree to a budget amendment of $5.24 million to hire 78 new career firefighters to staff the county’s six volunteer fire departments. The proposal also outlines the creation of a Reserve Responder Program that would enable some volunteers to continue to be of service to their communities. …
Thursday, October 4, 2012
The county is looking at the continued viability of its three remaining volunteer fire stations in light of a recent audit.
In the wake of a Hillsborough County audit, three Hillsborough County volunteer fire departments have closed and the remaining three, including the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department, could be in jeopardy. The stations in question -- Cork-Knights, North Brandon and Dover-Turkey Creek -- remain open, but are now manned only by career firefighters, county officials say. At the Oct. 3 Hillsborough County Commission meeting, Hillsborough County Fire Chief Ron Rogers told commissioners that his department is taking a look at the continued viability of volunteer fire departments to determine if they will continue to operate under their current structure. The audit of the volunteer stations raised concerns about the costs of operating the …
Cal Chem
2:59 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
WARNING: FIRST RESPONDERS' use of THE CHLORINE INSTITUTE "C" KIT may cause the catastrophic failure of a chlorine tank car, instantly creating a toxic gas plume with a distance of not less than seven miles. The first mile will have chlorine concentrations of 1,000 ppm, causing death after one or two breaths with no opportunity for escape. TO learn more, see PETITION C KIT, click on "First … more ›