Bulloch Fire adds living space to station, working on response times

BULLOCH COUNTY, Ga (WSAV)- The Bulloch County Fire Department is working their way towards faster response times, renovating its station in Portal.

They’re giving firefighters a place to lay their head while they’re waiting for overnight calls.

If your house catches on out in rural Bulloch County, chances are you wouldn’t see a firetruck for 15-20 minutes.

“The north part of the county has been underserved for many years,” said Bulloch County Fire chief Ben Tapley.

Tapley says they’re working towards the national standard of 8 minutes.

“In a large county such as ours it’s hard to do that but step by step we’ll start adding stations, staffing stations, and try to get firefighters, EMTs, paramedics closer to the people we serve,” said Tapley.

Part of that push, they’ve made renovations to the portal fire station – adding living quarters and showers.

“These stations that Bulloch county has, a lot of them were built in the 90’s and didn’t anticipate having actual crews staying in them,” said Tapley.

Until 5 years ago, the county only had volunteer firefighters. Tapley says that’s where they’re working to catch up, hoping to put career fighters on staff who would be ready to go around the clock.

“Time is life and obviously the closer you are to the people that you serve, the faster you can get there, the bigger difference you can make,” said Tapley.

Tapley says they have around 50 volunteers who may have to respond to calls from their home or work. Career firefighters would respond from the station – putting them on the road in just 1-2 minutes.