Curtis Sheets, Wintergreen Fire & Rescue Chief

Recruiting volunteers remains our top priority. We recently accepted seven new volunteer ambulance drivers. We could certainly use seven more. The Fire Department could easily use 10 more volunteers for fire suppression activities. If you’re interested, please contact Deputy Chief Mike Riddle at mriddle@wtgfireresq.org.

The annual Rescue Squad fund drive is about to refresh in August. We are just a bit shy of our annual goal, and we certainly appreciate the roughly 1,000 people who have supported us thus far. The average contribution is just over $200. By the end of June, the Rescue Squad will need to sign a check for nearly 300k to pay for our new ambulance. This ambulance is nearly 2 years behind schedule, and badly needed — 60% of our ambulance fleet has over 100,000 miles!

The annual Fire Department fund drive began in February. So far, we are pleased with the response, although we are running a bit behind our budget goal. By the end of December, the Fire Department will need to sign a check for just over 700k to pay for a new fire engine. The engine replaces a 1996 model that has served the community well for 27 years!

Medical calls within the Wintergreen community are up 46% year over year; 327 medical calls have been answered in the broader “Nellysford” area. There doesn’t appear to be any single address or any single issue driving the increase. Year-to-date we have responded to 209 medical emergencies within the Wintergreen Community. Of those calls, 24 have been cardiac/chest pain incidents. Over 60 calls have been traumatic in nature, most resulting from falls. Difficulty breathing and general illness calls, which were elevated in previous years due to Covid-19, seem to have reset to “normal” levels.

The Fire Department has responded to just over 180 calls year-to-date. Fortunately, so far this year there has been only one serious house fire within Wintergreen. Construction of the live-fire training facility in Nellysford is nearly complete. More information is coming soon about the facility.

Our staffing level (22 full-time) remains the same as it has been for several years. Fortunately, we are currently fully staffed. We do have a federal grant pending that (if funded) will allow us to add one firefighter to each of our three shifts.

We recently placed a new power cot in service, which is a hydraulic system that raises and lowers the cot at the touch of a button, sparing our staff’s backs. This comes with a price tag of nearly $28,000! Fortunately, the state covered 50% of the cost through a matching grant.

We also have over $300,000 worth of communications equipment on order. We extend a huge thank you to the Nelson County Board of Supervisors for covering 100% of the costs.

We just received a $100,000 grant from Sentara Hospital that will serve as seed money to start a “Community Paramedicine” Program in Nelson County. Be on the lookout for more information about this soon.