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If you need help, you want someone to respond as fast as possible. That’s something fire departments and emergency medical staff in Prince Edward and Farmville do on a regular basis. Now, the town of Farmville’s fire department will be able to respond to calls a bit outside of the town itself, 

“In 2018, the board of supervisors authorized a resolution, allowing Farmville (Fire) to respond to emergency medical calls inside the town and that’s where it stopped,” said Trey Pyle. He serves as Prince Edward County’s Emergency Management Coordinator. 

Speaking to the Prince Edward Board of Supervisors during their Tuesday, Sept. 10 meeting, Pyle said he and Farmville Fire Chief Daniel Clark have talked over the last few months about extending the department’s reach. 

“We think it’s in the best interests of the citizens (to extend that),” Pyle said, pointing out that Farmville can be the quickest to respond to any situation at schools in the county. 

A proposal for Farmville

Pyle and Clark proposed allowing Farmville Fire Department to respond to emergency medical calls in their fire district, which stretches beyond town borders and into the county. That includes Lowes and the area around it, all of the bypass for the most part and down to Tom’s Country Store. 

“If you have responders that are sitting at the stations and you have the ability to get there and provide aid, you want that aid to get there as quick as it can, wherever it’s coming from,” said Prince Edward Administrator Doug Stanley. He pointed out the fire department won’t be transporting patients anywhere. They wouldn’t be taking any money from or cutting into the operations traditionally covered by the Rescue Squad. 

“It just means somebody might get there with the skillset to help you faster,” Stanley told the board. 

That request was unanimously approved, extending the Farmville Volunteer Fire Department’s Non-Transport Basic Life Support first responder services.