By John Howell
Fire Chief Tim Taylor did not include the number of steps firefighters climbed last year during training on their four-story tower on Panola Avenue.
Other than that, the fire chief included in his annual report to city officials almost everything else city firefighters did during the year. There are 397 steps on staircases located on the outside and inside of the structure that firefighters and city workers have crafted from six or more metal shipping containers.
“A lot of people think we just sit around waiting,” said a firefighter whose Shift B was training at the tower site Tuesday morning.
The structure includes twists and turns through stairways, narrow passages with offset doors and other barriers designed to recreate the worst conditions a firefighter could face in a burning building.
Taylor reported that firefighters had undergone 64 hours of training at the facility.
“We probably under-counted,” Taylor said after submitting the report to city officials at their February 2 meeting.
County firefighters spent another 100 hours training there. With no count of how many times an hour a firefighter climbs those steps while training, the calculation of steps from the 164-plus hours comes up to, “a bunch.”
Batesville Fire Department calls were up seven percent during 2015, with 28 percent coming from outside Batesville municipal limits, Taylor’s report stated.
The largest number of calls for service during 2015 resulted from vehicle accidents — 45 of the 295 total calls, followed by 35 for building fires, 35 for “smoke scares,” 29 for grass and brush fires and 25 for vehicle fires.
And while they were “waiting,” as the B Shift fireman described the public perception of their jobs, fire department personnel were also engaged in prevention and education activities. Taylor reported public education contacts with 7,510 adults and children, including 1,979 through its fire safety trailer.
Firefighters also provided 969 smoke alarms to homes both inside and outside corporate limits, Taylor said.
Fire Prevention Officer James Snyder, who also serves as the department’s liaison with the American Red Cross, provided assistance to eight families driven from their homes by fire damage during 2015.
Fire Inspector Rip Copeland and BFD personnel conducted 571 occupancy inspections and 36 commercial vent hood inspections, citing 323 violations. BFD also issued 111 permits for burning outside residences.
BFD personnel inspected 566 fire hydrants, the report states, and conducted flow tests on 248 hydrants.
Personnel accrued almost 2,500 training hours including basic firefighter class training and hours at the State Fire Academy, according to the fire chief’s report.