A recent fire just outside the city limits of Alexandria has caused some confusion on the subject of who is to respond to certain fire calls, and when certain departments are to respond.
The fire that sparked the controversy was a blaze at the 168 Lower Helton Road residence of Helen Edwards, which is apparently located less than a mile outside the city limits of Alexandria.
Firefighters were summoned to the scene at just after 9 a.m. on Oct. 13.
The conflagration apparently started in the utility room of the home, and damaged the home extensively.
Central dispatch reportedly received a fire call at 9:08 a.m. and county fire trucks were dispatched to the scene.
After arriving at the scene, the county fire department requested mutual aid assistance from the Alexandria Volunteer Fire Department, which responded promptly.
Some residents have questioned why the Alexandria department was not called to the scene sooner, considering the home’s proximity to the Alexandria fire station and the fact that Alexandria Police Chief Mark Collins personally requested that the city firefighters be dispatched right away.
In a prepared statement, Green said that he had spoken with Alexandria Mayor Ria Baker, and there is a misunderstanding that the City of Alexandria Fire Department refused to respond to this call.
Chief Green says this simply isn't the case.
"This address is not located in the city limits of Alexandria. Subsequently, proper dispatch protocol was followed by DeKalb County 911 dispatchers as they dispatched DeKalb County Fire Department to this address," Green said.
"I think the issues of concern have mostly been due to the fact that this address is located near the boundary of the Alexandria city limits and that the City of Alexandria Fire Department was not initially dispatched to this incident," he noted.
Chief Green said that under Tennessee State Law (Public Acts, 2004 1 Chapter No. 743), mutual aid assistance can be requested when an agency having jurisdiction determines that additional outside resources are needed to handle the emergency.
Nothing in this mutual aid law allows an outside agency to initially be dispatched outside its jurisdiction.
The only agreement that allows for initial dispatch of an agency outside its jurisdictional boundary is a formal automatic aid agreement or an inter-local agreement between the two agencies.
The City of Alexandria and DeKalb County do not have such agreements in place.
"In this particular incident," Green continued, "DeKalb County Fire Department's units were dispatched from Liberty, Temperance Hall, and the Main stations.
"Upon arrival of our first unit, the DeKalb County Fire Incident Commander conducted a scene size-up and requested mutual aid assistance from the City of Alexandria Fire Department.
"The Alexandria Fire Department was dispatched and arrived on the scene at 9:36 a.m., 25 minutes from the time the fire was initially reported to 911."
According to the chief, the sensitive issues of jurisdictional boundaries and applications of mutual aid responses are not new issues in the fire service.
In his 25 years in the fire service, he has seen this issue come to light in dealing with incidents across county lines, city limits, and other jurisdictional boundaries.
Green said that the bottom line is that the mutual aid process must be followed due to legal and liability issues.
"There are countless instances where one agency might be closer to an incident than the agency having jurisdictional authority," he explained.
"An example of this would be the DeKalb County High School. We have a station in the county that is located closer to the school than the City of Smithville Fire Department.
"However, with the school being located in the city limits of Smithville, DeKalb County Fire Department may only respond when requested by the Smithville Fire Department if they request additional and specific resources using the prescribed mutual aid process. We have to follow procedures and the laws," Green concluded.
When asked about the possibility of entering into an automatic aid agreement with the City of Alexandria, Chief Green said that it was certainly a possibility that should be explored by the Alexandria City Council and the DeKalb County Commission, in consultation with each governing bodies' attorneys.