Winston Rescue Squad plans expansion

ADDISON - The expansion of ambulance services by the Winston County Rescue Squad also means an expansion of the Addison Fire Station.
The rescue squad will continue to also use the Arley Fire station, but will also have an office in Addison at the fire station on County Road 41 at Alexander Park.  This will require a renovation of office space and additional bay space for an ambulance, Kyle Woodard, member of both the fire department and rescue squad, said.
Woodard addressed Addison Mayor Marsha Pigg and town council members at their April 21, meeting about the need for an expansion of rescue squad services in Addison.
“The Winston County Rescue Squad approached us as a fire department, basically (saying they are) in need of housing for one truck to provide 24-hour service out of 

our fire station,” Woodard began.
The fire department has proposed a 30x50 addition to their fire station, Woodard explained.
“This would  give (the rescue squad) a day room, as they call it, a place for them to be during the day,” Woodard explained. “It would be one office.”
The Addison Fire Station will be revamped for an office to be used by the rescue squad, as well as extra space for an ambulance, firefighters addressed the council.
“Twenty four hours, there would be somebody there to respond to whatever, within their jurisdiction,” said Woodard.
“They have showers already in the fire department,” Pigg noted. “They have a nice kitchen.”
An office is already located upstairs in the Addison Fire Station, which can be converted into two bedrooms, so rescue squad staff could be available from the station 24-hours-a day, Woodard explained.
“We’re adding on so they can have an office and a day room which, in turn, helps us,” Woodard pointed out. “That small area where we meet is pretty tight.
“ I’m still putting some figures together on what that is going to cost,” Woodard continued. “Our hopes are that we know enough people to get that done relatively cheap.
“I don’t know if the city wants to help, but we’re looking at $50,000 worth of work, by the time you pour a (concrete foundation) pad, add on, then do two bedrooms, air conditioner, heat, all that sort of stuff,” Woodard informed the mayor and council.
The fire department’s recommendation was they would provide as much as they could toward the expansion effort, but requested any financial assistance the town could provide toward the project, Woodard summarized.
“What could you help us do to get that done?” Woodard asked the mayor and council.
“That would be having somebody (at the station), 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Pigg confirmed.
Woodard noted the rescue squad is currently running two shifts around the clock from the Arley Fire Station.
“Arley stepped up to the plate and made all the arrangements for (the rescue squad) to be there to start with, but they have outgrown that,” Woodard emphasized.
Council member Scott Flynn asked if the addition would be connected to the present station, to which Woodard responded yes.
The addition to the fire department would be on the side of the building where a storm shelter is currently located, according to Woodard.
“The storm pit that is in the ground by the fire station obviously is going to have to come out,” Woodard explained. “It’s old. It’s costly. It needs to be gone anyway. We have two state-of-the-art (shelters) right there beside it.”
Woodard suggested that area businesses could donate toward the expansion project to help lower costs if possible “to help everybody in the community,” he said.
“I think I can say that we’d be willing to help what we can,” Pigg said.
“We know the rescue squad conversion and all is going to be a pretty costly endeavor,” Woodard then said. “We think we can do this, especially with the help and donations of the people.
“We don’t know what we’re looking at money wise,” Woodard continued, “but like I told the guys at the fire department, we should start by getting a solid estimate of what it’s going to cost and provide that to you guys.”
Among related business, Woodard asked the council about a possible location to park the fire department’s brush trucks at the Addison rescue squad location.
“I don’t see a problem with that,” Pigg responded.
“That would kind of be the flip side, if we give up a bay, we need that help from you guys to use that  building to keep our trucks,” Woodard told the council.
“I guess you just let us know the cost, and we go from there,”  stated council member Randy Powell.
“I’ll work on a full-fledged estimate and we’ll see where we land,” Woodard said.
Joseph Harris, firefighter/EMT with the Addison Fire Department, stressed that the headquarters of the rescue squad would remain at Arley, but the Addison expansion will provide for a satellite location.
“It’s to get quicker patient care to those who need it for areas up here,” Harris explained.  

Call volume behind need for expansion

Jesse Oliver, chief of operations for Winston County Rescue, noted the need to expand services was due simply to call volume.
“Our call volume has increased.  We’re adding a second 24/7 crew and it makes perfect sense to spread the resources out to cover the coverage area,” Oliver explained.
“Our average call volume from January to January tripled,” Oliver pointed out. “Right now, I’m staffing two crews at Arley.”
Oliver stressed the response times into the Addison area have been fast from the rescue squad and that Addison had reached out to them about expanding into their area.
“They knew we were expanding.  They offered, and I said yes,” Oliver emphasized.
“We’ll move a crew to Addison whenever they get the facilities established,” Oliver added. “One truck and two staff members at Addison and one truck and two staff members at Arley. There is a crew on each ambulance, per shift, per day.
“We’ve already been staging in Addison a lot.  It shortens our response times, but we have not had an issue with response times regardless. We still maintain an exceptional response time,” Oliver emphasized.
Currently, the rescue squad runs calls on the east side of Winston County up to Lakeshore at Smith Lake, according to Oliver.
“Everything we do is centered around patient care,” Oliver stressed. “We’re going to provide the very best service that is available, period.”
Arley Fire Chief James Rickett, one of the board members for the rescue squad, which formed in 2023, emphasized the Arley station will continue to house rescue squad operations, but the operations will be divided so that half will be housed in Addison.
“We’re outgrowing this place right now,” Rickett stated. “We have five trucks now, so if we can move a couple of trucks and a couple of crews up there (to Addison), that is going to spread it out some.
“It will be quicker response time in Addison, anything on that side of the county,” added Rickett. “And we’ll take care of this side (in Arley). They will be helping each other out, so that will make a big difference.”
The goal when the rescue squad began in November 2023, was to eventually expand services. “
“When we started this, we promised we would eventually have something in Addison,” Rickett said.
 “But we didn’t think it was going to move this fast,” he added. “We never thought it would grow as fast as it did.”
Originally, the Arley Fire Station had an open upstairs area, which was converted into a bathroom, sleeping areas, an office and day area for the rescue squad, Rickett recalled.
“We were fortunate we had the room to do that,” Rickett stated.
“They are on 24-hour shifts,” he noted. “You have to take care of them.”