Newspaper Page Text
PUBLIC SAFETY
Residents near border should
see faster fire response
BY MELISSA WEINMAN
melissaweinman@reporternewsppaers.net
The Sandy Springs and DeKalb
County fire departments have entered
into an automatic aid agreement to
provide faster responses to emergency
calls from people living on the border
of Sandy Springs and Dunwoody.
Beginning Aug. 1, units from
DeKalb County’s fire station in Dun-
woody will be the first to respond to
fire and EMS calls to Sandy Springs
residences and businesses in portions
of the Sandy Springs “panhandle,” the
area between the Chattahoochee River
and the DeKalb County line.
Sandy Springs Fire Chief Jack
McElfish said the faster response time
will improve the insurance rating for
those property
owners.
“It’ll go from
Class 10 to Class
3. It’ll save literally
hundreds of thou
sands of dollars
for people in that
area,” McElfish
said. “It’ll help
both the county
and the city.”
Sandy Springs
Battalion Chief
Daryl Smith said
the two depart
ments worked out
the agreement af
ter metrics for
measuring fire risk
changed. The new metrics put proper
ties farther than five miles from a fire
station into a higher risk classification.
“It was a 10 because the new ISO
rating came into effect, and that area’s
response time from our Station 1 at
Spalding and Roberts was greater than
five miles,” Smith said.
Smith said Sandy Springs will still
be responding to emergency calls in
the panhandle.
“Our units are also responding as
well, but [DeKalb] will be there before
us because they’re less than five miles,”
Smith said. “The benefit is that we’re
going to have better coverage in that
panhandle area as far as structure fires
and getting people on the scene quick-
>5
er.
Sandy Springs City Councilman
John Paulson, who represents the San
dy Springs panhandle, said he thinks
it’s a good arrangement for his district.
“I believe it benefits both commu
nities to have this more formalized,”
Paulson said.
Bob Mullen, a spokesman for the
city of Dunwoody, said the city is grate
ful for the agreement between the two
fire departments.
“We’re grateful for
not only assistance
from [DeKalb
County Fire] Chief
[Edward] O’Brien
but also the San
dy Springs Fire De
partment to make
sure residents are
going to have the
best service possi
ble,” Mullen said.
Smith said San
dy Springs already
has an automatic
aid agreement with
the city of Atlanta.
Sandy Springs’ Sta
tion 4, located near
the intersection of Roswell and Wieu-
ca roads, will respond to calls in Buck-
head, while Atlanta’s Station 27 on
Northside Drive will respond to calls
in Sandy Springs.
Smith said the departments have
plans to expand the automatic aid
agreement to all areas with contiguous
borders.
“We’re eventually going to branch
out and do the entire Sandy Springs/
DeKalb County border,” Smith said.
“We’re grateful for not
only assistance from
[DeKalb County Fire] Chief
[Edward] O’Brien but also
the Sandy Springs Fire
Department to make sure
residents are going to have
the best service possible.”
-BOB MULLEN
DUNWOODY SPOKESMAN
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