A personal perspective from Curtis Sheets, Wintergreen Fire & Rescue Chief

There is so much I need to tell you that I’d like to apologize now for a fragmented article.

• WINTERGREEN FIRE AND RESCUE NEEDS VOLUNTEERS to assist with our higher than usual call volume. We provide all of the training in-house. There are opportunities with both the Fire Department and the Rescue Squad.

You certainly don’t have to be a Hercules; however, you should be able to lift heavy objects and move while carrying them. Even if God gave you the sense to run out of a burning building, there are plenty of things we can teach you to do from a safe distance. The work is very rewarding. If you’re interested in applying, please contact Deputy Chief Mike Riddle at mriddle@wtgfireresq.org.

• The Rescue Squad is about to begin its annual capital campaign. Last year’s campaign was one of the most successful in our history with over 1,000 individual donors. The Fire Department campaign also continues. A new fire engine will be ordered by the end of the year. The estimated cost will be north of $600,000. We are currently receiving bids.

• If you have not received your vaccine yet, please get your jab ASAP..

Although our Covid-19 vaccine clinics have ended, and the infection rates are down, please don’t lose sight of the fact that people are still getting infected. The new “Delta variant” is particularly transmissible.

The Virginia Department of Health recently named Nelson County as one of the top ten localities in Virginia for their vaccination rate. The Tuckahoe Clinic had a lot to do with that. Over 1,000 doses were given. Thanks to all who volunteered week after week to make it a success.

• Year to date the Fire Department has responded to 58 calls within the Wintergreen master plan. Four were full-working structure fires. That’s a record! Of the four, all were occupied. There were no civilian injuries and two firefighter injuries during suppression. Three of the homes are under repair. The fourth home was a relatively small and older home. The decision was made to tear it down rather than attempt repair.

• The Rescue Squad has responded to 112 calls within Wintergreen so far this year. There has been 37 general illness, 24 injuries from falls, 19 difficulty breathing, 17 chest pains, and 15 traumatic injury incidents. We believe our call volume is up because more people are living at Wintergreen full-time since Covid-19. There is really no reason to think this will “reset” moving forward. It seems as if most of the new people are here to stay.

• Both Wintergreen Fire and Wintergreen Rescue respond to emergency calls within Nelson and Augusta County. Year-to-date we have also answered 259 calls in the surrounding area.

• Rarely if ever do I use a forum such as this to discuss staff-related issues at Wintergreen, but I must now. The past 12+ months have made a mess of all things public safety.

People are leaving our industry early while others decide not to pursue public safety careers at all. For nearly a year, local paramedic programs were shut down out of fear that students could cross-contaminate agencies. We are left with a demand for paramedics that far exceeds supply.

I have been in the business since 1990 and I have never seen anything quite like this. Between Wintergreen Police and Wintergreen Fire & Rescue, we have seven open positions. Both agencies have been advertising for months. (See fire & rescue open positions here; more on police jobs are here.)

Our neighbors to the East just announced that they are creating a new Public Safety department. Per their job postings, they intend to work their employees 700 fewer hours per year than we do, and their starting pay is $5,000 higher than ours. WPOA’s senior management is fully engaged on this issue. We are quickly collecting regional data to better understand our shortcomings. Historically we have done a pretty good job staying competitive. The fast-paced conditions we are experiencing now are different.

Public safety is very important to Wintergreen owners. We hear this time and time again. Keeping the annual assessment low is also important. This may be the year when we have difficult choices to make.

There are currently 22 full-time employees of Wintergreen Fire & Rescue. They collectively cover every minute of every day for all things both fire and medical in both the mountain and valley communities.

There is very little distance between the scope and skills of our Advanced-Practice Paramedics and Nurse Practitioners or Physician’s Assistants. On average, we respond to a 9-1-1 emergency on Wintergreen property every day. This sounds like an incredibly low number–unless you are the one with the emergency.