The Botetourt Board of Supervisors was considering allocating $62,000 for a Fire and EMS Station Study when it met Tuesday afternoon.

In his written report, County Administrator Gary Larrowe said five firms responded to a request for proposals (RFP) for the study and a team of representatives from Fire and EMS, a member of the Trouville Volunteer Fire Department and a county administration representative recommended hiring BIRCHbark Strategic Consulting in Albermarle County as the preferred vendor for the study. The supervisors authorized the request for proposals late last year when a report from Fire and EMS noted there had been discussions of strategic planning for the future of fire and EMS facilities throughout the county’s developing areas. That led to budgeting of funds for a study of future potential locations for fire and EMS facilities. The proposed study is to evaluate facts and data associated with population, fire and EMS call activity, as well as the county’s Comprehensive Plan and other applicable documents to develop recommendations on potential future facility locations. Fire and EMS stakeholders from both volunteer and career leadership were involved in developing the RFP.

The study is supposed to provide an executive summary with an overview of the work done and process used to develop the final station study report. It will have full color maps with visual representations of call for service volumes historically, current, and projected, including a breakdown by time of day and day of week (weekdays versus weeknights and weekend days versus weekend nights). Maps will also identify current station locations and current service areas and areas outside of ISO (International Standards) time and distance recommendations of existing stations. Maps will also identify areas of concentrated calls for service with overlays of current time and distance representations. The study will provide background and analysis of current and projected community needs in regards to fire and EMS response and station positioning and recommendations of areas throughout Botetourt where future facilities should be considered.

These recommendations should address communities with current facilities that may not be in the position of greatest impact, as well as areas that have no current facility. The board budgeted $35,000 for the study, but Larrowe’s report says the team evaluating the proposals felt “confident that this is the consulting firm that would provide the best analysis and recommendations.”