Time to Check Your Smoke Alarms
This weekend, March 13 and 14, we will all be setting our clocks to Daylight Saving Time. The time change is a good reminder to check your smoke alarms. According to the National Fire Protection Association, more than 66 percent of home fire deaths that occurred between 2003-2006 were in homes without a working smoke alarm. A working smoke alarm significantly increases your chances of surviving a deadly home fire.
Virginia Burn Ban
From February 15th through April 30th, it is illegal to burn before 4 pm if the fire is within 300 feet of woodland, brushland, or fields containing dry grass or other flammable materials. For more information, please visit the Virgina Department of Forestry website. Virgina State Code 10.1-1142 regulates the burning of woods, brush etc. and the penalties for violating the ban can be found here.
Now Accepting Applications for Fall '10
The Blacksburg Fire Department is now accepting applications for free housing for incoming and current Virginia Tech students for Fall 2010. Students in this program must become a member of the department and give a specified amount of volunteer time to the fire department. Please contact Keith Bolte or email at kbolte@blacksburg.gov for information.
Recent Calls
About The Department
The Blacksburg Fire Department is an all volunteer agency serving Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County. The department consists of two stations, with a third currently under construction. Department apparatus includes 5 engines, a tanker, 3 brush trucks, an 100' aerial platform, an air & lighting truck, a mini-pumper, a high angle rescue & hazmat trailer, a six wheel ATV and several other support and officer vehicles. Despite it's volunteer nature, the department has multiple 24/7 on-call duty officers and nightly duty crews, consistently meeting or exceeding a 4 minute response time to most incidents within the town limits.
There are over 1200 alarms transmitted each year calling on the services of the department, dispatched by town, county, and Virginia Tech dispatchers. The various types of calls include residential, commercial and campus fire alarms, auto accidents, structure fires, car fires, minor fires in dumpsters or trash, wildland fires in mountains and valleys around Blacksburg, hazardous material incidents, LifeGuard landing zone setup, rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue, elevator rescue and also CO and other gas checks.
