Botetourt takes over Read Mountain Fire and EMS station

Botetourt County Takes Ownership of Read Mountain Fire Station

Botetourt County took over total ownership of the Read Mountain Fire Station after the Board of Supervisors for both Botetourt and Roanoke County entered into a new sharing agreement.

The previous 30-year-old agreement maintained the station as a joint facility. The new agreement transfers ownership and fiscal responsibility to Botetourt County. Roanoke, however, will maintain a presence at the station, Botetourt Fire and EMS Chief Jason Ferguson told the supervisors at the May 26 meeting.

Roanoke County will pay Botetourt $20,000 a year, either in funds or in equipment value, and a mutual aid agreement allows Botetourt and Roanoke County to assist one another across county lines.

 Residents in the vicinity should not see a change in service, Ferguson said.

The station ran over 770 calls last year, according to Ferguson.

Botetourt County now has career staff and volunteers at the station. Botetourt County maintains an emergency services staff comprised of both paid and volunteers who run fire and rescue calls. When the fire station was built in 1990, Botetourt County’s emergency services was volunteer only.

Ferguson said that along with the transfer of the building to Botetourt County, some equipment already in place would remain. Roanoke County essentially donated the equipment and apparatus to Botetourt County to maintain the level of service to citizens in the area. Ferguson did not anticipate any changes in volunteer or career staff levels because of this agreement.

The new agreement, which Roanoke County also approved according to local media, goes into effect July 1. It lasts for five years and automatically renews unless one of the counties gives a year’s notice that it does not wish to renew the agreement. Additionally, Roanoke County has the right of first refusal on the Read Mountain Fire Station property if Botetourt County stops operating it as an emergency services facility.

The fire station transfer essentially ends what was a three-decade experiment of unprecedented cooperation between municipalities. Botetourt County and Roanoke County also shared library resources around the same time, working together to build the Blue Ridge Library branch in 1989. That facility was turned over to Botetourt County about 10 years ago.

                                                                           — Anita Firebaugh, Special to The Botetourt Bee