MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Monongalia County officials are scheduled to meet this week to review response times in connection with a July fire at a well-known Morgantown-area apartment complex after a resident expressed concern as to why the Morgantown Fire Department was not dispatched.
The meeting, set for Thursday, will involve the Monongalia County Commission, the City of Morgantown and Monongalia County MECCA 911.
The fire at Bon Vista Apartments took place on July 10, which was a Sunday. At at 1:30 p.m., multiple departments were called to Bon Vista’s Building A on Stewartstown Road, outside the city limits.
MECCA 911 Executive Director Jim Smith said the first fire engine arrived on scene within nine minutes. The National Fire Protection Association sets the minimum response time standard at nine minutes, 20-seconds.
“Cassville Fire Department, Granville Fire Department, Star City Fire Department and Westover Fire Department were initially dispatched to the call,” Smith said during an appearance last week on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “It is in the Star City service jurisdiction.”
Since the fire occurred on a Sunday the volunteer fire departments were able to fully respond, possibly one of the reasons why first responders on scene did not need the Morgantown Fire Department, Smith said.
In total, seven of the 12 volunteer fire departments in Monongalia County ended up responding to the fire that day.
“We had two fire departments calling that they were enroute to the fire within about two minutes,” Smith said. “Within 15 minutes we had four fire departments and Mon EMS on scene at the fire.”
Smith said heat was an issue that day and the scope of the incident required an extended response. Once the fire was out, incident commanders did call for help through the clean up phase of the response.
“They had also requested some manpower from the Greene County Fire Department,” Smith said. “When you get a large fire like this it’s time consuming- not only are you fighting the fire, but you have clean up.”
There is an existing mutual aid agreement in the county that states the Morgantown Fire Department will assist when requested. However, Morgantown firefighters did not get a call for help.
“There is a mutual aid agreement signed with all the volunteer fire departments along with the Morgantown Fire Department,” Smith said. ” So they could request the Morgantown Fire Department if they felt they needed that.”