Lexington, SC (Paul Kirby) – The Lexington County Fire Service is adding two new captains to each of its three shifts to help supervise their drivers and firefighters as they work around the stations and respond to emergencies. Those new captains will be stationed at the Pelion and Boiling Springs.
According to Lexington County Fire Coordinator and Chief Mark Davis, the captain at Boiling Springs is expected to come online in September of 2020 followed by Pelion in October. Davis said that these six positions, two new captains multiplied by three shifts, will all be promoted from within. Administrators were working on the interview process in late July.
Chief Davis recently said in an on-line interview, “Our captains are assigned a region. Some captains oversee multiple stations while some of our urban captains only oversee one station. The station captain is responsible for maintaining the station integrity, station training, monthly gear and equipment inspections, station supplies, and providing the battalion chiefs with progress on personnel.”
Davis went on to say that because of the vast area that the Lexington County Fire Service covers, certain parts of the county currently have just firefighters and drivers in them. At times, the station captain can be up to 20 minutes away. This causes a delay in getting any supervision to the scene and can be a safety concern.
With the addition of the two captains’ positions Davis said that they will be reducing the time it takes for an officer to arrive on the scene of an emergency. So far, of the 25 fire stations within Lexington County Fire Service there are just nine of those stations that have captains. Placing two more captains in service will bring that number up to 11 per shift that will be available to assist in the supervision of those 25 stations. This will certainly increase safety and supervision once they complete the addition of these new officers.
