Town of Harrisburg Fire Department

Annual Budget: 3.2 million

Area Covered Square miles: 30

Population: 23,582

Chief: Bryan Dunn

Chief Officers: Deputy Chief Ken Bradey (operations), Assistant Chief Pete Skeris (training), Fire Marshal Jeff Williams, Battalion Chiefs Tim Wooten, Steve Southworth, and Brad Christopher

Other Officers: Captains — Artie Craig, John Freeze, John Gonzalez, Wendell Jolly, Chris Redmond, David Towery, Jason Walker and Joe Yowler

Number of Members: 65 Paid, Full 44, PT 19, Volunteer: 2

Address: 6462 Morehead Road Harrisburg N.C. 28075 Administrative Building

Website: www.harrisburgnc.org

Phone: 704-455-3574

Community Outreach: Harrisburg Fire Department has a great relationship with the community with providing Fire Prevention Education and Safety classes. We have five schools in our district as well as many day care facilities where we provide fire prevention education. We also provide CPR classes to all residents and business owners as well as fire extinguisher/basic first aid classes. We do offer the CPR classes in Spanish.

Our fire prevention week goes through the entire month of October to accommodate all the schools and day cares. In 2015 we were able to teach public education to nearly 4000 kids and 500 adults. In 2014 we started fire prevention classes for home schooled kids so they can get the same fire prevention education as public school kids during fire prevention week.

As always all three of our fire stations are happy to give station tours that are scheduled or if you just want to drop in, we are always happy to accommodate this.

Top Two concerns in your community: Tremendous residential growth and the addition of a parallel train track (double track) that will greatly increase train traffic through Harrisburg carrying passengers and hazardous materials.

Fund-raising? We have an annual open house that coincides with the start of fire prevention week. We sell BBQ and usually choose a fire department project that otherwise was not funded in the budget process.

What upgrades will you make in your department this year? We will replace Fire Station 2 that was constructed in 1978 with a brand new facility on about eight acres with the hopes of eventually adding some training areas. We will also replace an engine company. FYI, we just completed Fire Station 3 in May 2016.

What special hazards or unique businesses are in your community? Our industrial districts include anything from chemical manufacturing, petroleum waste facility, construction debris landfill; rail off load site, and large warehouse manufacturing or storage. We also protect one of the busiest rail lines on the east coast with over 60 passenger and commodity trains daily. Our residential districts include some large home sites that can be over three stories.

What are problems in your department that you would like feedback from others? Recruitment and retention of firefighters while begin in close proximity to a large municipality.

Unique to our department:

We really have a great relationship with our mutual aid departments in Cabarrus County. On Oct.1, 2014 Concord Fire Department, Kannapolis Fire Department, and Harrisburg Fire Department entered into an agreement for a borderless response for automatic mutual aid. While there are always challenges to overcome, this agreement has greatly benefited our communities by providing the highest level of care and protection possible plus meeting response standards.

Last year Concord Fire Department, Harrisburg Fire Department, Salisbury Fire Department and Albemarle Fire Department began a joint recruiting process called Carolina Fire Recruitment. These fire departments share interest cards where the applicant shows interest in one or all the listed fire departments. Then as a group we test agility using the CPAT and ergonomics written exam. The successful applicants then follow the individual fire department process for employment. We will begin our second year of this program in January 2017.

Our website is:

carolinarecruitmentalliance.com

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Chief Bryan Dunn