Lincoln Fire Department now staffed 7 days a week

LINCOLN — The Lincoln Fire Department is now staffed seven days a week, with someone at the station 10 to 12 hours each day, according to Fire Chief Brian Bradley.

Bradley is a volunteer fire chief with a full-time assistant chief, Tyler Franks. Instead of filling a second full-time position, the department has nine part-time firefighters who are providing another 80 hours of work per week.

All of the part-time employees work one or two days a week, and all have been to the fire academy, Bradley said. About half of them work full-time for other fire departments, and the rest are volunteers at different fire departments.

Bradley said he believes that using part-time firefighters to fill two 40-hour positions, instead of having another full-time position, is best for Lincoln at this time.

“It gives us more eyes and ears,” Bradley said, noting the city advertised the full-time position, but was unable to find anyone who wanted to do the job for the available pay.

The department started being staffed seven days a week at the beginning of the year. Franks said the department’s goal is to have 24-hour coverage.

“We’re having so many calls in the day and night,” Franks said.

In 2023, Lincoln responded to 947 calls, including 488 calls in the city and 403 in rural areas. The Fire Department assisted other agencies on 56 calls.

“With the uptick of night calls and the ambulance not being here at night, we definitely need 24-hour coverage,” Franks said.

Central Emergency Medical Service has an ambulance and crew at the Lincoln station from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but if it is running a patient into Fayetteville, the ambulance may have to then respond to a call somewhere else.

Bradley said that is one reason he wants firefighters at the station during the day in case the ambulance is responding to another call.

In addition, Franks said, if the Fire Department can increase coverage to 24 hours, seven days a week, that means at least someone would be at the station to drive the truck to the scene. A lot of volunteers keep their gear with them, so they could go straight to the site to meet the fire truck.

“With someone here, we can be anywhere in the city in less than five minutes,” Franks said. The same call with no one at the station takes 8 to 12 minutes. “That’s when you are talking about seconds count.”

Bradley and Franks said they are just now starting conversations about 24-hour coverage for Lincoln in the future.

“Slowly, we need to travel in that direction as the city grows and new businesses come in,” Franks said.

During the past year, the department replaced its old turnout gear using a grant and city matching funds, and it hopes to be awarded additional grants this year for a new automated external defibrillator and new hose. Those are necessary items, Bradley said.

Franks said fire departments in western Washington County have good mutual aid relationships with each other.

The volunteers also are showing more interest in the medical side of fire departments, and some are taking courses to become emergency medical technicians and emergency medical responders.

“We’re lucky to have the guys we have,” Franks said.

Bradley

Franks