Fire personnel in Shenandoah County get answer to request for more staff

Tuesday, fire and rescue leaders in Shenandoah County went before the Board of Supervisors to request money for more positions at volunteer fire departments throughout the county.

Fire and rescue leaders say the volunteer departments in Conicville and Orkney Springs need more staff so they can answer calls 24/7.

Right now, there are only people there five days a week, which can result in excessively long response times on the off-days.

Last week, Shenandoah County Fire and Rescue offered three options to the board.

The options they proposed were to hire nine people, which would fully staff both locations, hire five people, or hire two people now, and three people in July.

At the meeting on Tuesday, they were told they will get two people -- period.

Now, leaders must tell people in those areas this.

"The only thing I can tell them. We are doing the best that we can with what we have. Anything further has to come from local government," said Tim Williams, the Shenandoah County Fire and Rescue Chief.

The two new employees will be stationed at the Conicville volunteer fire department, and they hope to have them situated in the next few months.

You can read more about the firefighters' push for additional staff in the 'Related Stories' section of this article.