PORT WENTWORTH FIRE DEPARTMENT Meeting the Demands of a Thriving Community
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n 2021, the Port Wentworth Fire “I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into roads of Highway 21 and Interstate 95 Department answered 1976 calls from it and [I’m pleased] to see it become the falling in their jurisdiction, the Port across the community, a 17 percent department that I envisioned years ago,” Wentworth Fire Department has a lot of increase over the previous year. They are Moore said. ground to cover. a small but mighty team—30 full-time Among the notable calls that they have Keeping Up with Port Wentworth’s firefighters, six part-time firefighters, responded to in the past include the C-130 Growth a training lieutenant, a captain and an crash in 2018. Because of the scale of that In Chief Moore’s tenure, he led the administrative assistant—that works event, they collaborated with departments department to receive an improved across two stations in the city limits. from surrounding areas as well. Insurance Services Office (ISO) They are led by Chief of Fire Operations “With the explosive growth of the city, Lance Moore, who has been trying to keep this department up working with the fire department with demand and growing at an since 2009 and has been the chief equal pace with the city has been a They are a small but mighty team that since 2016. He has witnessed challenge,” Moore said. “It’s a lot firsthand the city’s rapid growth of work, but it’s fun.” works across two stations in the city limits and, with it, the growth of the Future goals include improving department. equipment and training programs “When I started, we had one and hiring more staff to handle score. This shows how prepared a fire person on each truck and ran two trucks the city’s growing population. They also department is in the event of a fire per shift. Now we’re up to 10 people per hope to build a new station north of emergency and encompasses equipment, shift,” Moore said. “We’re growing and Interstate 95 to accommodate the growth training, water supply, call response making things happen.” in that area. times and more. An ISO score is given Moore came to the Port Wentworth “[A new station] will greatly enhance our by the Insurance Services Office, and the Fire Department after working with a ability to serve the public,” Moore said. lower the number the better. In 2020, department in Massachusetts. Firefighting “We need a facility up there to continue to was a career change for him, spurred by an the department received a score of 3, an do our job efficiently.” improvement from the 5 that they had in aspiration to help others. At any given time, there are 10 firefighters previous years. Homeowners insurance “Helping the department grow and go in on a shift between the two stations, working the right direction is what gets me up every companies use this score when they are 24 hours on, 48 hours off. determining rates, and a better score can day,” Moore said. The duties of the fire department translate to lower insurance premiums for extend far beyond putting out fires. All the He followed his family to Port Wentworth everyone in the area. for a change of weather and scenery. He department’s vehicles and equipment are Port Wentworth is home to a wide started at Port Wentworth Fire Department inspected daily to ensure that they are in variety of residential and commercial as a volunteer firefighter in 2009 and was working order. They also train businesses development. With the especially busy hired full-time a few months later. and civilians on proper fire extinguisher
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28 August/September 2022 | www.EFFINGHAMMAGAZINE.com
