By JOHN MUMFORD
jmumford@thecitizennews.com

Faced with dwindling daytime availability of volunteers — and emergencies that are becoming more complex — the Peachtree City Fire and Rescue Department wants to increase its staff by six firefighters.

Those new positions would expand the daily shift from 10 persons to 12, said acting Fire Chief Stony Lohr. That would help offset the increasing unavailability of volunteer firefighters during the day since most work outside of Peachtree City, he said.

“Our volunteers used to work and live in Peachtree City, but now they've gone on to jobs in Atlanta and at Hartsfield,” Lohr said. “It's not just Peachtree City that's having this problem, either. It's a national issue.”

A similar circumstance applies to Lohr's full-time firefighters, most of whom live outside of Peachtree City. Should they be called in to assist at a large fire or massive wreck, it will take them a while to respond, Lohr said.

Only five staffers with Peachtree City Fire and Rescue actually live in Peachtree City, Lohr pointed out. The others live at least 20 minutes away or more, he added.

“We have been using all the resources available to us and we've been right on the edge,” Lohr said.

Adding two firefighters per shift will also help the city reduce its ISO rating, thereby lowering fire insurance rates for local residents, Lohr said. The department expects to have the lower rating locked in by the end of this year after working on the task for quite a while, he added.

More manpower is needed on structure fires due to new construction materials that are being used, the chief said. Also, extricating passengers from wrecked vehicles is more difficult because there are fewer points of attack on newer vehicles, Lohr added.

“That all makes things more complex and it requires more people to respond so we can get the things done that must be done,” Lohr said.

The department was really taxed at a June fire on Muirfield Way that was fed by natural gas pipelines, Lohr said. Off-duty firemen were called in since strong winds blew embers away from the fire and started small fires elsewhere, Lohr said.

“We had some folks reach their personal limits, and that made them more susceptible to injury,” Lohr said.

The department also responded to several medical calls during that fire which reduced the amount of manpower handling the blaze, Lohr added.