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7/31/19
For Immediate Release


The Teays Valley Fire Department’s primary fire protection coverage area is fortunate to have fire hydrants in most of the district. It normally allows quick access to the necessary water needed for good fire protection. If you live within a 1000’ of a fire hydrant the proximity allows benefits to your homeowner’s and business insurance expense. The hydrant system is maintained by Putnam Public Service District and serves a critical component to our communities.


Our water system identification is available to us through technology our firefighters use daily. The hydrants are identified in electronic mapping programs that responding firefighting equipment can easily identify while responding to an emergency. The program uses latitude and longitudinal coordinates to establish the general area of a hydrant. This allows us to see the general area but doesn’t give us the exact location of the hydrant. Daytime operations usually don’t create issues, but nighttime and bad weather offer different challenges.


Some area residents and subdivisions have made decisions to add landscaping designs around fire hydrants to improve the overall appearance of their properties. In doing so the planning of the landscape improvements have not considered the 360-degree visibility needed for proper maintenance of the fire hydrants. Fire hydrants are blocked by shrubbery, blooming flowers, trees, and even large boulders that prohibit easy identification and efficient operation of the hydrants. We hate to be the bearer of difficult news, but the fact of the matter is…your act could compromise public safety. These tools, while on your property, do not belong to you and are needed for more than your property.


People can check with the Planning Office of Putnam County Government and find requirements that specify a 10’ clear operating diameter surrounding a fire hydrant. West Virginia State Fire Code dictates a 15’ clear operating diameter around fire hydrants. The innocent approach of landscaping and fencing could be placing individuals, subdivisions, and even business owners in a position of liability.


Teays Valley Fire Department is asking for assistance in improving our community’s fire protection. Please, if you have barriers to fire hydrants on your property please correct it. If you have questions concerning this, please contact us at 304-757-7075 and we’ll be more than happy to assist you.

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Mission Statements
Our Mission
To R.E.S.P.O.N.D to the Needs of our Community
Our Values
Reliable
Educate
Serve
​Prepare
Organized
Neighbors
Dependable
Our Goals
To be a Reliable resource to our community
To Educate our community in areas of safety and welfare
​To Serve our community with the highest standard of care.
To Prepare individually and as team members for life's turns.
To be Organized when you call upon us
To be good & thoughtful Neighbors in our community
To be a Dependable organization aiding in providing security

Vision Statement

TVFD is a dynamic organization recognized for its ability to adjust to the needs of our community
​and will always be committed to providing the highest level of public safety service through standards of excellence.
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Message From The Chief

To our Teays Valley Community:

Serving as the primary first responders to our community the Teays Valley Fire Department is prepared and ready to respond to any emergency. Not only do we respond to incidents in our community we also respond to our contiguous communities as well. Daily, we respond to fires, vehicle accidents, public assistance calls, as well as other types of emergencies involving a fast response to medical emergencies to assist Putnam County EMS acting as rapid responders.

In March of 2013 we began getting the rewards of a grant that was awarded to the fire department hiring essentially six (6) firefighter full time equivalent (FTE) positions. The grant allowed us to job share these positions so the (6) positions allowed us to employ (18) firefighters. To give you a better understanding for the need to have a cadre of firefighters on duty 24/7 as compared to an all-volunteer force I present the following information:

  • December 31, 2012...we were dispatched to 920 incidents for calendar year 2012.

We responded to 540 of these incidents. We were only available to respond to approximately 59% of the total calls we are responsible for. The primary reason for not responding to the incidents was due to the lack of available volunteer firefighters/EMS staff.

  • December 31, 2013...we were dispatched to 1000 incidents for calendar year 2013.

We responded to 1000 of these incidents. We were able to accomplish this by having the grant awarded positions on duty, 24/7.

  • August 28, 2013...we are on course to respond to 1200 incidents for calendar year 2014.

We have responded to every incident to date. Our incident volume is up 20%.

The grant award has certainly helped us deliver a better service to our community. We have been able to:

  • Provide 24/7 staffed fire apparatus

  • Provide more training to our fire/rescue/EMS staff

  • Increase our knowledge of our community and the properties we protect

  • Render better medical treatment and support the Putnam County EMS services

  • Have the ability to better serve our community’s special needs population

  • And most importantly...provide a faster response to any emergency occurring in our community. Being able to accomplish this allows us to make quicker interventions and possibly reach more positive outcomes.

Our grant period expires March 2, 2015. We will apply for the grant as soon as the grant period opens but that has yet to occur. In order for us to continue serving our community in the current model, as well as assisting communities around us, we must look for funding alternatives. One possible revenue stream is to provide non-emergency ambulance/medical transportation services to our local medical community, transporting patients to/from the local hospital, nursing facilities, doctors’ offices, and to specialty treatment centers; all found in our primary fire protection district. We have been planning and organizing this service since our West Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services initial licensure inspection in January, 2014. Once that was completed we began the application process for Medicare & Medicaid enrollment, the vital reimbursement portion in the field of ambulance transportation. On August 11, 2014 we received the final approval from the West Virginia Medicaid program. This was the final hurdle. We are now ready to begin transporting persons within our community needing assistance to and from medical stays and/or appointments as well as those patients admitted to healthcare facilities within our fire protection district.

Reimbursement received from providing inter-facility transportation will allow the TVFD to do the following:

  • Continue 24/7 fire apparatus staffing

Salaries, payroll taxes and Workers’ Compensation benefits will be continued for part time employees of the TVFD. There are currently eighteen (18) positions being staffed with sixteen (16) people.

  • Staff ambulances on peak performance requirements

The ambulances will be staffed according to the greatest demand occurring during the heaviest volume timeframes.

  • Reward the volunteer members of the TVFD

A budget has been established to award volunteers for responding to emergencies as well as an incentive to reward people for their dedication to training in the field of firefighting and emergency medical activities.

  • Assist in long range planning1

Our Firehouse 7-1 will soon celebrate its 50th Year anniversary. This firehouse’s construction was from other fire departments. The new/used apparatus bought and/or obtained during the department’s beginning years were much smaller than those of today’s design and safety designs. We have outgrown the Poplar Fork Firehouse years ago and are dealing with a growing need to design/build a larger facility. We have transitioned a firehouse built to be a cornerstone for a small community to one that is serving a community that continues to grow and need at least twice the space it currently is able to offer.

Our apparatus fleet is aging. The following are the primary vehicles that the insurance rating offices known as ISO recognize and provide the base of vehicle grading. The following will provide the year manufactured, the life expectancy2, and replacement cost in 2014 dollars:

  • 2006 Engine 71, 15 years, $400,000.00

  • 1994 Engine 72, 15 years, $350,000.00

  • 1997 Engine 73, 15 years, $350,000.00

  • 1999 Ladder 7, 20 years, $1,200,000.00


1 The long range planning will be coordinated with the Putnam County Fire Service Board with receipts from the Putnam county Fire Fee.

2 An apparatus’ life expectancy is recommended by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a consensus standard organization that fire departments around the United States are measured to.

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105 South Poplar Fork Rd
Scott Depot, WV 25560
Office: (304) 757-7075
Fax: (304) 757-7717
info@teaysvalleyfire.com
Updated: 1/14/19