Welcome to the P.C.F.D. news section. Here you will find current information about the services we have been providing to the community as well as events within the department. If you need further information about an incident we have responded to or are a member of the news media, please contact the Peachtree City Public Information Officer (PIO) or Fire Chief's office for an official statement. No portion of the P.C.F.D. news section may be reproduced without consent of the P.C.F.D. or P.C.V.F.A.
 

10/01/2009
New Firefighters On-duty

Six new Firefighters recently joined the ranks of the Peachtree City Fire Department as part of a federal grant that was awarded to the city. The Firefighters completed an orientation program to familiarize them with the operating procedures of P.C.F.D. They are distributed amongst the three shifts, bringing the total on-duty staffing to 19 Firefighters. The Peachtree City Fire Department would like to extend a warm welcome to the new recruits and congratulate them on becoming a member of one of the finest Fire Department's in the southeast.

On 24 July 2009 the Peachtree City Fire Department was awarded $650,280 for the FY2008 SAFER Grant.  We submitted our application on 24 June 2008.   The SAFER Grants provides funding over a 5 year time frame.  The Federal Government funds the firefighter’s positions at 80%, 70%, 40%, 20% and none for the fifth year.   The Peachtree City Fire & Rescue has applied 4 times in the past for SAFER Grant.    

The SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) Grant was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations in order to help them increase the number of trained, "front-line" firefighters available in their communities.
 
The application was for six firefighters or two firefighters per shift.  This will raise our on-duty staffing to 19 firefighters on-duty each day.   This will enable the Fire Department to man all the required apparatus including Rescue 8 and Tower 8 which presently is crossed-manned with medic crews.  The additional personnel will allow the Department to assign one firefighter to Rescue 8 and Tower 8 and guarantee that they are available to respond at all times. 

Additional manpower is provided by volunteer firefighters either by responding from home or work or those volunteer firefighters who supplement the on-duty staff by working at the station performing “station time.”  At present the Department average between 3 and 4 volunteer firefighters working each shift with the on-duty crew.  

SAFER Grant gets the Department one more step closer to meeting NFPA 1710 requirements.  These requirements are the nationally recognized standards that all fire departments should meet to safely respond and mitigate any emergency situation.  The standard includes staffing requirements and response time requirements.

Six full-time firefighters will join the ranks of the Peachtree City Fire Department on the  24th of October. Firefighter/EMT Lorenzo Davis will move from part-time status to full-time, FF/EMT Beth Ivey, Ashely Koontz, Phillip Stusak, and Richard Swanger will move from volunteer status to full-time status.  FF/EMT Cody Ivey joins Peachtree City from the Heard County Fire Department.

These firefighters will increase daily manning from 17 firefighters on-duty to 19 on-duty. 

Since most of the firefighters have worked for Peachtree City for a number of years or months, their orientation will be very short and they will quickly adjust to the full-time routine.           

The Peachtree City Fire Department is actively testing all city fire hydrants to ensure that they are in proper working order and to conduct routine maintenance. Part of this process involves flowing each hydrant to remove sediment from the water lines. As a result, you may experience cloudy or discolored water. If this happens, we ask that you simply flow your water for several minutes to flush the remaining sediment out of the water line. If you have any further issues with your water related to discolored water, please call the Peachtree City Fire Department at the number below prior to contacting any other authority. Thank you for your understanding and helping to make our community safe.

 For more information contact the Fire Marshal's Office at 770-631-2526.

The Peachtree City Fire Department once again participated in Safety Stand Down 2009. The stand down is an annual event that focuses on the common goal of firefighter safety. Crews designed their own training programs to present to their respective shift with the overall goal of reducing Firefighter injuries and deaths.

The Peachtree City Fire Department would like to congratulate Firefighter John Bruschetti on completing his Paramedic certification. Firefighter Bruschetti is now a recognized Paramedic in the state of Georgia after completing a rigorous course that lasted more than a year. This new level of certification enhances the medical services that Firefighter Bruschetti can provide to the community.

The Peachtree City Fire Department celebrated the successful completion of National Professional Qualification firefighter testing for twelve of their Recruit Firefighters on Thursday night by hosting a Graduation Ceremony.

The ceremony was conducted at the Fire Training Center located at the Leach Fire Station on Paschal Road.  The guest speaker was Coweta County Fire Chief Johnny Teeters who spoke on lessons learned from his forty years of experience in the Fire Service.  The twelve firefighter recruits that are now recognized as firefighters are Amy Barnes, Bethany Ivey, Dylan Easley, Michael Gibbs, Leonard Montgomery, James O’Connell, Harold O’Neal, John Orr, Dustin Railey, Timothy Roberts, Damien Sorrells and William Swanson. 

The course was conducted by certified Fire Instructors from Peachtree City Fire Department’s A shift over the last five months including classroom, skills and fire training in preparation for the national certification testing.  The firefighters will now serve the Peachtree City community as volunteer firefighters.

Sandy Faulkner has been awarded the EMS Region Four Paramedic of the Year award.  Sandy received this award for all that he has done to promote EMS issues with the PCFD along with the outstanding and caring patient care he administers on each and every call, and for the nurturing he does for seasoned and new EMS personnel .  Sandy has been a practicing paramedic for 30 years.

01/01/2009

Winter 2009 Promotion Ceremony

Several members of the Peachtree City Fire Department recently received promotions within the department. Those receiving promotions were: Joseph O'conor to Assistant Chief/Training Special Operations, Clint Murphy to Battalion Commander/Training, John Dunlap to Lieutenant/Asst. Fire Marshal, and Marty Cofield to Sergeant. The department would like to congratulate those that were honored in this important ceremony.