City manager has plan to share firehouse

Frank Edmunds hopes his proposal would settle turf issues with the Indian Rocks Fire District. That entity's chief says it's too soon to say.

By WILMA NORTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

SEMINOLE -- Seminole and the Indian Rocks Fire District are considering a partnership to build a station and staff a fire engine that would respond to fire and emergency calls.

But wait.

Seminole and the Indian Rocks district, which is changing its name to Pinellas Suncoast Fire & Rescue, working together? Can that be? Haven't those entities been tussling over stations and territories for years?

After all, Seminole officials and residents voiced their disapproval last year when the county suggested Seminole close its station near Seminole High because it is just a half-mile from the Indian Rocks district's mainland station. That station would have then taken over primary service for some of Seminole's fire district.

And Indian Rocks fire officials fought to keep Seminole from building a station in Indian Shores to serve the Redington beach communities.

Yet, at the urging of the County Commission, Seminole City Manager Frank Edmunds has come up with a proposal to share Seminole's planned new station on Park Boulevard with the Pinellas Suncoast district.

Seminole's plan has been to spend $500,000 to build the station. Seminole would provide fire service to the Redington beach communities and fire and rescue services to the western part of the Seminole fire district.

Edmunds' offer, which he said he is "guardedly optimistic" about, calls for the two entities to split the cost of construction for a one-bay station on the east side of the Park Boulevard Bridge. Each would also share the cost of an Advanced Life Support rescue engine and would share the annual expenses of the station.

Seminole would provide a firefighter-emergency medical technician and a lieutenant for each shift; the Pinellas Suncoast district would provide a paramedic and a firefighter/EMT.

Seminole would keep all the money paid it by the Redington beach communities for fire service from the station; Pinellas Suncoast would keep all the money the county pays it to provide emergency medical services on the Redington beaches.

Edmunds said he thinks his proposal would settle the turf issues that have plagued the two agencies.

Pinellas Suncoast chief Jim Terry said it is too early for him to say if the partnership is viable, but he said it was good to be talking about solutions.

"We're just trying to get along with people," he said. "The big thing right now is that what we're doing is opening the lines of communication. That's a big step for us to try to resolve this issue."

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