Living outside the 5-minute window

Derieck and Maureen Hodges say goodbye to the last of several friends who attended the couple's dinner party.

Their house, located at 2375 Litz Blvd. in the Bent Creek Subdivision, on the east side of Jackson, is finally quiet after a long night of entertaining.

In the dining room, several pillar candles are still lit on the table. The couple, tired, decides to let the dishes wait until morning. They head off to bed, their candles still burning.

About 2 hours after Derieck and Maureen go to bed, their daughter, Amanda, smells smoke and wakes up her parents. Almost simultaneously, smoke alarms begin to ring in the house.

As the family rushes out the door, they see a fire engulf their dining room table.

A 911 call is placed and fire trucks are dispatched immediately from Jackson's Fire Station, located at the intersection of East Jackson Boulevard and Hope Street.

A truck pulls out of the station and races towards the Hodges' home in the Bent Creek golf course area.

While the family stands outside the home, they watch as the fire spreads. All of the memories they've had in their home for the past 13 years, are quickly being destroyed.

After what seems like eternity to the Hodges, Jackson's fire department reaches the scene in a little more than its 5-minute benchmark, but had it been during the day, when traffic is at its worse, it could have taken longer.

This scenario, while fictional, is why Jackson's fire chief and city officials are worried. There are several large homes, and families, located in interconnecting neighborhoods outside the fire department's 5-minute response radius.

It's why city officials have sent out surveys to ask residents about a fire sales tax increase.

It's why the Insurance Services Office told the city it needed to make some changes if it plans to maintain its current fire rating. If it's not changed, the Hodges and their neighbors could see their home insurance rates go up.

The city of Jackson has one fire station, and fire chief Brad Golden said the city needs an additional one.

"We try to keep a benchmark response time of 5 minutes but that can be longer due to traffic and distance," he said. The National Fire Protection Association has set a 6-minute standard, which is a guideline and not a law.

Timing is critical when responding to a fire, especially to the north and northeast sections of Jackson, particularly the Bent Creek Golf Course and Klaus Park areas.

In fact, the probability of death in a fire increases as the response time increases, Golden said.

The Hodges, whose home survived the tornado that swept through Bent Creek in 2003, were unaware of the fire response times to their neighborhood.

"I never even knew or thought about that," Maureen said. "God was with us through that tornado and I know He will protect us if there ever is a fire."

The family's home is equiped with smoke alarms. And after the damaging tornado, Derieck purchased a ladder to throw out the window of his son, Alex's bedroom in case a fire does occur.

A fire station location study was done last year by Golden and presented to city officials concerning the need of another fire station in Jackson.

In 2004, about 39 percent of response times were over 5 minutes for the Jackson Fire Department.

Sixty-four percent of the calls to the fire department were emergency medical calls, while the other 36 percent dealt with fires.

Quick response time to an emergency medical call is extremely critical. When breathing stops, irreversible brain damage can occur in four to six minutes without oxygen, Golden said.

Jackson's one fire station also contributes to the city having an ISO rating of five on a 10-point scale.

The ISO has provided fire ratings for many years and those ratings have become a standard benchmark for insurance companies. The ISO encourages insurance companies to offer discounts to buildings and homes in communities with good ratings.

"I looked up the difference in home insurance rates between Cape Girardeau, which has a Class 4 rating, and Jackson, which is a Class 5," said Derieck Hodges, an insurance agent. "And there is a significant difference in price."

Insurance rates for a $170,000 frame home in Jackson costs $635 per year. For the same price and style home in Cape Girardeau insurance costs $545, he said.

The city has moved a fire engine into the old Sander's Hardware Store at the intersection of Shawnee and Old Cape Roads to try and help receive a lower ISO rating.

In the past eight years, there has been a 450 percent increase in calls to the Jackson Fire Department.

"This is due to the amount of people moving into the city and the subdivision growth," Golden said.

The subdivisions that will continue to grow around the north and northeast sections of Jackson, where fire response time is slowest.

Mayor Paul Sander said he's aware that the city needs another fire station.

"We're just getting by with what we have now," he said.

Jackson residents may be asked to vote on a sales tax to generate revenue for a new station in the near future.

Sander said a survey has been sent to residents in Jackson to get their input on fire safety issues. The results will be presented at a Board of Alderman meeting on November 14.

A new station would be a significant investment, costing approximately $1.5 million for initial costs, said Golden.

"It is a big issue," Derieck said about the one fire station in Jackson. "This city has just grown and we want the best fire protection we can have. We will support the city in its decisions."

Jackson's population has increased 70 percent since 1981, the year the current station was constructed. And in a city that continues to grow, timing is everything.

jfreeze@semissourian.com