Tazewell County, VA, Creating New Fire Department

TAZEWELL, Va. — Tazewell County officials have approved a restructuring plan involving firefighting services in the county.

As part of the new ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday night, a new, central volunteer fire company will be created to provide fire protection services from existing volunteer fire stations.

The ordinance also creates a separate, new paid fire department as a department of county government. The county will employ firefighters for its new department on a part-time basis. The ordinance also allows existing volunteer departments to continue, but it will limit their role to providing support services for the new fire company.

All existing brick and mortar volunteer fire departments will remain open under the ordinance, Tazewell County Administrator Eric Young said Wednesday.

“All current fire stations will remain open, using the same equipment, and be staffed by the same volunteers,” Young said in response to Daily Telegraph questions regarding the reorganization plan. “However, they will be members of the new, single Fire Company. The new company will centralize record keeping, finances, training schedules, and other administrative tasks which will no longer be the responsibility of the community fire departments. The company will also coordinate response to larger events involving crews from multiple stations. And the company will provide additional equipment and training for all volunteers to promote uniformity throughout the county.”

Those currently working as volunteer firefighters will have several options under the new ordinance, which becomes effective July 1, 2026. The county enacted a meals tax earlier this year to help address and some of the firefighting deficiencies.

“This plan allows volunteers multiple options,” Young said. “Residents interested in serving in fire protection may volunteer with one of the traditional volunteer departments in a supporting role, or with the new fire company as an active responder, or apply to work for the board as a paid part time firefighter, depending on their level of training, experience, and commitment. They also have the option to belong to any two or all three.”

The board has been working with fire chiefs and the county’s emergency services committee over the past year to draft the ordinance. A 2013 study performed by the state identified several weaknesses in Tazewell County’s fire protection services.

Up until now, each community in the county has been responsible for providing fire protection for its residents through volunteers with limited support from the board. However, Young said declining population, extended commuting times for work for many residents, and a general decrease in volunteerism has reduced the number of volunteer firefighters at the individual community departments. At the same time increasing costs for fire gear, equipment, and fire apparatus made maintaining proper equipment challenging, according to Young.

“We have been falling short with fire protection by taking our volunteers for granted and leaving them under equipped and underfunded for decades,” Young said. “Today the board took another bold step to raise the level of coverage by consolidating the administrative burden off of volunteers, adding a new level of trained, paid personnel, and opening the doors to additional grant funding.”

Eastern District supervisor Charles “Chuck” Presley, who serves on the county’s emergency services committee, said the restructuring plan will allow the volunteers to have more time training and responding to fires as opposed to fundraising and filling out paperwork.

“When I joined the board, I was surprised to see how little funding and support our volunteers have to cover such a large territory,” Presley said. “We decided to support them with more funding and a better organization. Records, finances, procurement, training, will all be managed and supervised centrally.”

Presley, during a stop at the Daily Telegraph Wednesday, said the restructuring plan will not impact the fire departments serving the individual towns, including Bluefield. However, he said the new paid volunteer fire department as well as the members of the new central volunteer fire company would be able to provide back-up assistance to the towns.

Presley also said all volunteer fire departments will remain open under the restructuring plan.

“They will all be the same,” Presley said. “The biggest reason we want to the company is now we can capture all of the calls under one roof.”

By creating a new, central volunteer fire company to provide protection services from existing volunteer fire stations, the new company will consist of a single team that will train together, have uniform procedures and gear and operate better as a single unit in larger events, the county said in a statement explaining the reorganization process. It said having a central fire company will streamline record keeping, bookkeeping, procurement and other administrative tasks that previously fell upon the volunteers. Furthermore, the new volunteer company will be eligible for more grants because it will have a larger roster and will count all calls run in the county as a single number to demonstrate a more accurate picture of the need for fire services.

Young was asked if the central fire company would have a physical address or location.

“The Central Volunteer Company will be located in all of the existing fire stations,” Young said. “For example TCFC Bandy Station or “TCFC Baptist Valley Station. We likely will have an office in either one of the stations or in a county owned building for the Company for record keeping, administration, and conducting meetings. We do not envision an additional, new station for the Fire Company.”

The 2013 Cardinal study also recommended the county retain a coordinator of fire and EMS services, an objective that has already been completed. Barry Brooks has served in that role for 10 years.

“This was a long time in coming,” Brooks added in a prepared statement. “We are excited that when we apply for grants as a single fire company we will have over a hundred members and will be able to say we respond to hundreds of calls a year.”

As for the creation of the separate, new paid county fire department, the board of supervisors will employ the firefighters for its new department on a part-time basis, according to Young.

A location for the new paid-county fire department is still being worked out.

“We are in negotiations with a property owner to acquire a building to locate the paid part time department and expect to have an announcement on that very soon,” Young said. “This will be the first site for this new department. We welcome any volunteer willing to help the public. We believe most of our paid part time personnel will be individuals who also volunteer for the Fire Company or town departments who are willing to work a shift for us. New volunteers are welcome, but they will need to have Firefighter One Training to be eligible.”

Most if not all of these employees will also be volunteers at the fire company under the restructuring plan. However, the paid department will have higher physical performance and training standards. The paid crew will also be paid to train. The board’s paid department also will provide support for the volunteer company and town departments as a “rapid intervention crew” when circumstances require additional forces and will respond when volunteer personnel aren’t available.

Northwestern District Supervisor Shanna Plaster said having a central volunteer company is a necessity to help the existing volunteers.

“We cannot afford to provide fire service without our volunteers,” Plaster said. “But today our volunteers struggle to work, go to church, and spend time with their families. We cannot always expect they come to every call. Having a paid department, especially during the daytime in the work week means someone will come, even if the volunteers are out of town or tied up at work. And it means volunteers will know, if the event is too big, help is on the way.“

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