03/Aug/2007
Born Out of Tragedy
St. George Fire Department’s Expansion
Reflects Rapid Growth of Area It Serves
The last thing young couples building homes in outlying
subdivisions wanted to think about back in the 1960s was what they would do if
they had a house fire.
As more and more homes were built in the woods and sugar cane fields of South Baton Rouge, however, the situation became increasingly critical. And then one day tragedy struck.
“Back then if you lived in Village St. George and you had a
house fire you could call but chances were nobody would come, and your house
would just burn to the slab,” St. George Fire Chief
Gerard C. Tarleton said
.
A Child Dies
One day a hot water
heater and a can of gasoline got together in a storage room behind a home, and
there was an explosion.
“They said at
first they thought the sounds were from an animal trapped in the storeroom
fire, but it turned out to be a toddler.
The little boy died later that afternoon,” Tarleton said.
The people of
Village St. George decided that something had to be done.
Every young couple in the area could
identify with the people who lost their child.
So they got together and formed the Village St. George Fire Department
and Social Club, Inc.
Next, they
approached then-Parish Councilman Mike Robique and asked for
his help in
forming a taxing district.
“The parish
governing authority can create a fire district,” explained Chief Tarleton.
“Right now there are nine fire districts in East Baton Rouge Parish and three
municipal fire departments in Baton Rouge, Baker and Zachary.”
G.G. Gascon was the
man who put the fire out that fateful day back in the early 1970s.
The child who died was his cousin, and the
deputy chief for many years was his brother back in the days before 9-1-1.
Bringing Water to Fight Fire
“Those were the
days when we had to bring the water with us to fight the fire,” said Chief
Tarleton. “Then, once we got there, we would try and find some kind of water we
could hook up to.”
The first Fire Phone was at the Village Grocery on Perkins Road. Owner Sam Drago allowed a Visqueen-covered structure to be built on the side of his store using lumber salvaged from a partially burned home. Its purpose was to house the big old milk truck that was St. George’s first piece of fire fighting equipment.
“The volunteers used a telephone pyramid,” Chief Tarleton said. “The first man called two volunteers and they each called four volunteers, and we were off to the races.” Chief Tarleton joined as a volunteer in 1977. “I grew up in a home with 12 children and two cousins,” he said. “I don’t know what in the world we would have done if we had had a fire back then.”
Dances and Crawfish
Boils
It took a long time for the St. George Fire Department to get things moving in the right direction. The first few years they were supported entirely by donations and there were times when there was not enough money to put fuel in the truck. In 1968, the Department constructed its first station at 13686 Perkins Road. “They would have dances, crawfish boils and bake sales to try and raise money for the Fire Department back then,” said the Chief. “That was what kept it going in those early days.”
In 1974 the City/Parish Council finally relented, and there was an election. The rapidly growing area got a five-mill tax approved and the St. George Fire Department had a recurring funding source for the first time.
“It was not a lot of money, but it gave us the start we needed,” Tarleton said. “Revenue sharing bought the trucks and made it possible for us to start hiring people for the day shift.”
During the 1990s the volunteers’ role became less and less as more paid employees were added to the staff, which today totals 150 highly trained people. Paid personnel became essential as more and more training was required.
Fighting Fires
“We started with a sense of community and thankfully that is still here,” Tarleton said. “Generally we attract people whose dedication is to fighting fires and helping save lives. We don’t generally attract people with big hobbies. This is what we do.”
The Chief said he has seen a lot of tragedy over the years and a few of the Village St. George firemen have been seriously injured, but nobody has lost a life. Tarleton took over as the volunteer chief in January 1987. “They actually started paying me in 1986,” he said. “And then the next year I got a second job when I was named Chief, but there was no pay increase that went with the job.” Tarleton became the first paid Fire Chief for St. George Fire Department in 1991.
“We get nothing from the city,” Tarleton said. “Thankfully, our area has continued to enjoy phenomenal growth and the people have been good about voting to tax themselves to provide steadily improving fire protection.” In 1975, two more stations were added at 9214 Jefferson Highway and 7027 Antioch Road. As a direct result the District's fire insurance rating was lowered from Class 10 to Class 7. This meant a 32 percent reduction in fire insurance premiums.
Six-Mil Property Tax
In the spring of 1998 voters of the District approved an additional six-mil property tax. More full-time firefighters were hired, and all engines are now staffed with at lest three full-time trained, professional firefighters 24 hours a day. Increased staffing improved the Department's fire rating from a Class 3 to a Class 2, resulting in a 9 percent decrease in insurance premiums. A Class 2 rating provides the maximum insurance premium savings for homeowners.
Today the St. George Fire Department employs 150 highly trained paid personnel on duty around the clock at eight fire stations. The St. George Fire Protection District covers 72 square miles within East Baton Rouge Parish south of the City of Baton Rouge. The population of the area is rapidly approaching 100,000, and covers such things as The Mall of Louisiana, Perkins Rowe, The Mail Distribution Center, and the Baton Rouge General Hospital on Bluebonnet Boulevard.
“We are seeing more and more homes built within our District that are worth anywhere from a half million to $2 million and even $3 million and more,” Tarleton said. “People are buying older homes and building new, modern homes on two or three of the lots after tearing down the older houses.”
Fifth Largest in
Louisiana
St. George Fire Department is now the fifth largest in Louisiana. According to Tarleton, it is bigger, for example, than the municipal fire departments of Alexandria, Lake Charles and Monroe. “Right now we need another fire station and 30 more people to man it,” he said. “It is a real challenge to know where we are going to come up with the $1 million per year that it will take, but we just have to do it.”
In November 2006 the five-year, 1.5 mill ($15 per $100,000 value minus the Homestead Exemption) Capital Improvements Proposition which was first approved by the voters in 2002 was renewed. Plans are to purchase six new fire engines within the next five years. The construction of a training, maintenance and administrative facility is in the planning stages, and the property for that future fire station east of Airline Highway is being pursued.
Call statistics provide a clear idea of the job being done by the St. George Fire Department. Last year the department responded to nearly 7,000 calls for assistance. Thus far this year Village St. George has responded to 3,626 calls, which is up by 203 calls or some 6 percent from the first six months of last year.
The St. George Fire Department has come a long way since May 1970, three years after its formation, when its coverage area was extended all the way to Paulette Lane. But don’t look for Paulette Lane on any map of East Baton Rouge Parish today because that is what Bluebonnet Boulevard was called back then.
