Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
With the strain on the fire department in the area, if there are no firefighters working in Swain County when a house catches fire, there sometimes might not be anything anyone can do immediately.
“It might just burn until it puts itself out,” according to Charles Bryson, volunteer chief for the Bryson City Fire Department.
Bryson is currently looking at ways to motivate local leadership to sign off on more paid fire department positions, with the ultimate goal being staffing at the Bryson City department 24/7, to ensure the work gets done properly.
Bryson had some concern over county ideas to build a new parking deck without adding more fire protection. He referred to the recent plan the Board of County Commissioners to build a deck downtown to handle more traffic and parking.
“They want to build a new parking garage,” he said. “That’s an open building, and there’s no sprinkler. It could be elevated three or four stories. It’s very manpower intensive if we have to go in and fight a fire there. It takes quite a few firefighters. They talk about bringing bigger buildings to town, and more tourism. But that brings more issues. More things to respond to. They talk about parking decks, but there’s no discussion on the emergency response.”
Bryson spoke, too, about the old funeral home fire that happened Jan. 2, 2021. The Smoky Mountain Times reported then that the call went out at 2:09 a.m., and the first firefighter got to the scene at 2:16 a.m. Trucks were on-scene at 2:20 and the fire was contained by 2:31. To Bryson, it was an example of the issues they’re facing.
“An individual posted a video on one of the social media platforms,” he said. “They said, where were the firefighters? We were responding from home. The closest people at night might be 5 to 7 minutes away. Even in the daytime, on the weekends, we have to navigate the train, the tourists getting through the streets. It might take three or four minutes extra to get there.”
Swain County manager Kevin King told the Smoky Mountain Times that the county hadn’t been in a position to make any changes yet, as they are still working out the budget process going forward.
He said the staffing issue was likely to come up again at the next budget hearing in early March.
Asked what the county would consider a good resolution to the issue, King said he wanted to hear more from the firefighters themselves in the near future.
“We want to start a dialogue about that, about paid positions, and make sure that’s what they want,” he said.
Boots on the ground
One of the paid firefighters for Bryson City is Phillip Carson, who said he’s been in that position since last May - though he was a volunteer for 11 years prior to that.
He said the paid position he works now involves more paperwork for things like insurance and inspections for equipment and trucks, which makes it easier for the volunteers.
“You see a lot of time dissipate,” he said. “By that I mean, it takes a lot of people and time to keep a fire department open. A lot of papers, grants, to keep the door open. It takes time away from everybody.”
One volunteer firefighter with the Bryson City department, Chuck Taylor, said he finds the work fulfilling.
“It’s hard work, a lot of training, but it’s well worth it,” he said. “Whether it’s service on a rig or a house fire or a medical call, it’s all very rewarding.”
Taylor is a retired highway patrolman, and his wife, who was a paramedic before she retired, also volunteers for the fire department.
“We’re used to going out together on calls,” he said, adding that their kids grew up in that environment, too.
But it’s not all fun and games. “It’s not easy going into a structure,” he said. “The fire is hot, it’s draining with all the gear on. It’s very dangerous.”
The difficulties, he said, come down to a lack of volunteers as well as a glut of work to do, including both actual firefighting as well as upkeep and administrative work.
As many employers won’t let people off work nowadays to complete training, and many jobs ask employees to work wildly varying hours now, it’s hard to get more volunteers.
Another volunteer, David Sawyer, who works in the Alarka fire department, said at this time of the year, they were still getting more calls for structure fires, which are common in the colder months.
“But there are more calls in the summer,” he said. “There are more people here, more tourists.”
With the wildly varying kinds of calls that come in, from fires to downed power lines to medical calls and more, Sawyer said he’s never bored.
“You’re on call 24/7,” he said.
He said they team with other departments to handle things when the short number of volunteers hampers them. But even so, peoples’ busy schedules make it difficult to manage, as many simply don’t have time to volunteer anymore.
Sawyer said not everyone is cut out to be a volunteer. But those that are stick with it a long time, sometimes.
“I’ve done it a long time, 17 years,” he said. “Some have done it longer than I have. Alarka’s department was founded in 1993. Some of the guys are still there from that time. You probably have to like doing it. It’s a public service. It’s something that needs to be done.”