The Villages’ firefighters have posted some impressive response times during the challenging lightning season.
The Village Center Community Development District Board of Supervisors this past week received an update on recent fires from Fire Chief Brian Twiss of The Villages Public Safety Department.
Firefighters were dispatched at 11:47 p.m. June 24 after a fire erupted due to a lightning strike at 1336 La Jolla Circle in the Rio Grande Villas near the Rio Grande Family Pool.
The total response time was a pheonomenal 5 minutes and 39 seconds.
The fire chief noted that as a matter of procedure, firefighters are already dressed in their full gear when they arrive at the scene of a fire.
“When they get off the truck at the scene, they are ready to go to work,” Twiss said.
That night on La Jolla Circle, the quick response proved crucial in protecting two neighboring homes in the courtyard villa community. Both homes had been in “serious danger.”
In his report to the VCCDD board, Twiss also highlighted his department’s quick response to a blaze that broke out at about 4 a.m. June 4 on Buttonwood Run. The response time was 7 minutes and 24 seconds.
During the month of June, the units responded in less than 8 minutes to 77.8 percent of fire-related calls.
Meanwhile, The Villages Public Safety Department is on track to complete more than 16,000 ambulance transports this fiscal year.
The fire chief added that he is working with medical facilities, including UF Health Spanish Plaines Hospital, to offload patients quicker and return ambulances to service.
“All receiving facilities have worked with us to reduce offload times and maximize ambulance availability,” Twiss said.