In early 2005 the City of Port Orange, with the support of the union, went out into the community and asked the residents of the city to make an investment in the future of the city. Residents were asked to vote yes on a 17 million dollar bond referendum and for just eight cents a day the residents would be given an impressive return on their investment... eight cents a day would build two new fire stations, administrative offices, refurbish existing fire stations, one new police station, create community outreach and partnerships with EVAC and Halifax hospital to provide community health care. We sold the projects with the following promises:

1. Station 75 would improve response times to the west side by 50 %.

2. Station 72 relocation would improve response times by 25 %.

3. New stations would include community rooms, training facilities, rehabilitation and wellness clinics, and neighborhood care clinics.

In an effort to sell this referendum the following campaign was used in power point format. Medical experts, OSHA, and NFPA recommend 4 minute response times. Firefighters need to control rapidly deteriorating conditions in a structure to protect life and property. Experts say that your chances of surviving a heart attack decreases by 10% for each minute without ems. (This stat lowers Crane Lakes resident’s chances of surviving to about 30%). Residents were told that in 4 to 6 minutes without CPR Brain Damage occurs and after 10 minutes brain death is certain.

On November 11th, 2005 the bond was passed with an incredible 72% of the vote in favor of the referendum. The number of votes indicates that the community overwhelmingly supported the public safety projects. To date none of the projects have even been completed or even started for that matter. As a matter of fact the community centers and training facilities have been cut from every project...And the eight cents a day, well we are all paying that despite the fact that none of the promises have been kept by the City.

The fire chief is placing a fire engine in Crane Lakes from the hours of 9:00 am - 6:00 pm. The chief determined that these were the busiest hours in relation to emergency calls. The list of times below will be monitored but not updated.

The average response times for the citizens of Port Orange is 4 minutes. Current response times for the residents of Crane Lakes;

8/06/2007     8:06 Seconds

8/06/2007     9:10 Seconds

8/05/2007     8:09 Seconds

7/29/2007     5:21 Seconds

7/24/2007     8:11 Seconds

7/14/2007     9:26 Seconds

7/05/2007     6:29 Seconds

7/04/2007     7:17 Seconds

7/02/2007     7:14 Seconds

6/26/2007      9:27 Seconds

6/16/2007     12:32 Seconds

6/13/2007      8:13 Seconds

6/13/2007     13:10 Seconds

6/12/2007     10:56 Seconds

6/08/2007     13:45 Seconds

6/08/2007     11:29 Seconds     

5/31/2007     6:17 Seconds

5/27/2007     6:50 Seconds

5/24/2007     6:41 Seconds

5/23/2007     10:19 Seconds

5/23/2007     9:36 Seconds

5/16/2007     9:21 Seconds

5/13/2007     10:42 Seconds

This page will be updated on a daily basis as more information is gathered.