Southampton County Fire/Rescue Association

Updated communications procedures for Southampton County's fire and rescue radio system have been approved by the Sheriff and will go into effect on November 1, 2011.  The most notable change is that the first and second due fire departments will be paged to respond to all fire calls.  Pagingprocedures for the Sedley and Newsoms fire departments' EMS programs have also been updated, along with tactical channel usage guidelines.  Various other procedures have be rewritten or reworded to be more concise.  The updated procedures are posted below.  All changes have been highlighted in yellow.

Fire and Rescue Radio Procedures

Fire Meeting Pages

Nighttime Paid Rescue Procedures

Paid Rescue Procedures

Imagine you have a fire or medical emergency one night, but the firefighters and rescue team can’t find you. Why? Because your house address can’t readily be seen.

But this isn’t a rare occurrence for the Franklin Fire & Rescue Team.

“We see it all the time,” said Susan Keeter, emergency medical services captain and president of the fire department. “Some of the houses don’t have them, or some are so small you can’t read them from the road, or don’t reflect enough that you can see them. Sometimes the address numbers are on one side of the mailbox, but not the other, or we can’t see the numbers.

“If we can’t find you, we can’t help you,” she said.

The past couple of weeks have been really good for David Blythe.

Good in the sense that for the first time in months he’s been able to keep food down.

Diagnosed with a disease so rare that it’s only shared by 3,000 people in the United States, Blythe continues to recuperate.

The trouble began for the 44-year-old last April. Stomach cramps and diarrhea inexplicably became regular symptoms for the chief of the Hunterdale Volunteer Fire Department.

Extensive tests, including biopsies and endoscopies, were performed to find the cause. Meanwhile, the unidentified ailment eroded 90 pounds from Blythe’s sturdy 237-pound frame.

“Purely by accident” is how the Rev. Randy Wright of Hunterdale Christian Church describes the discovery, which occurred a couple of weeks before Christmas.

During a week’s stay in Sentara Norfolk General, the cause was identified as primary amyloidosis. That’s a rare word for an even rarer blood disease.

The City Council unanimously agreed to apply for a $25,000 federal grant to help pay for a new fire truck estimated to cost $450,000.

Franklin Fire Chief Vince Holt said the new truck is needed to replace a 30-year-old truck.

“The truck is no longer serviceable,” Holt said. “It no longer passes pump tests or meets safety requirements. Engine No. 3 is so old that it has an open cab.”

With the exception of the driver and another officer, other firefighters in an open-cab truck are in jump seats exposed to the elements and risk of danger.

The Franklin Fire Department also has two pumper trucks that date back to 2003 and 1995.

Franklin Fire and Rescue will soon have an upgraded training center, thanks to a $25,300 grant from the Virginia Department of Fire Programs.

Emergency Services Chief Vince Holt said the state adopted a new training curriculum that required additional hands-on skills and surveyed training centers to find any deficiencies that needed to be addressed under the new curriculum.

Franklin’s training center is located adjacent to the airport, he said.