The average response times for Carroll County firefighters to reach injured motorists trapped inside their vehicles was cut in half in 2008 as they arrived nearly three minutes faster than the year before. That, according to the Fire Department’s 2008 annual report, made potential life-saving treatment more timely for the injured.

Carroll County Fire and Rescue Chief Gary Thomas said firefighters helped extricate 40 people from vehicles involved in collisions last year and were able to reach those people in an average of 3.09 minutes, which was more than a 50 percent drop from the 6.36 minutes in 2007, according to the report, released on Friday.

Thomas said firefighters were quickly able to cut through wreckage to remove crash victims and provide faster medical care to the injured in 2008 when in many cases the crashes occurred in less rural stretches of the county, which had previously been the case in past years for crashes that required extrication.

“Usually the more serious vehicle accidents that require people to be extricated from their cars are caused from speeding on more rural roads,” he said. “Last year we saw more serious crashes occur in more congested city areas near the fire stations. We had fewer serious accidents outside of the cities.”

And 2008 marked the highest number of calls to battle fires and handle emergency medical calls in the history of the county with more than 7,150 responses by career and volunteer firefighters. While the department handled more calls for help, the number of firefighters employed remained the same as two years ago.

Response by firefighters rose on average about 10 seconds to a little more than six minutes, which Thomas said increased as the number of incidents increased.

Villa Rica Police Chief Michael Mansour said many of the auto wrecks that involved serious injuries in the city, which is also where the busiest fire station in the county is located, were caused from distracted drivers in a hurry as they traveled through the city’s highways commuting to and from work, home and school.

“People are either distracted or in too big of a hurry,” he said. “They are in so much of a hurry that they don’t want to stop at red lights or at stop signs and just keep on going.”

Emergency calls in Villa Rica, Temple, the Sandhill community and Tumlin Lake Road resulted in more than half of all emergency responses by all 13 fire stations in the county.

More than $70 million dollars worth of property was lost in fires last year in Carroll County ” including losses from what fire officials described as the worst fire in its history at the Carlisle Tire and Wheel plant in November ” according to the 2008 annual report.

Thomas said the total value of the 171 structure fires in 2008 was more than $112 million, which included nearly $40 million in property saved by county firefighters.

The Bowdon tire plant amassed a large percentage of last year’s losses with more than $68 million destroyed from the Nov. 16, 2008 fire, where firefighters remained at the scene for six days battling the blaze.

Officials said the cause of what started the fire that led to the collapse and complete destruction of the plant remains undetermined. A decision to rebuild the plant by the company has also not been reached.

According to the annual report, although the number of medical and fire emergencies firefighters responded to from the county’s 13 fire stations increased slightly, there were no fire-related deaths reported last year.

“I believe fire safety education could have played a role in the number of structure fires last year as people continue to become more educated about fire prevention,” Thomas said. “We also promote fire safety in the community by providing free smoke detectors to families that cannot afford them. The Fire Department installs the smoke detectors to make sure that they are working properly for the families.”

Last year, Thomas said 24 smoke detectors were given to low-income families in the county.

Thomas said last year’s severe weather that spawned tornadoes on Feb. 17, 2008, Feb. 26, 2008 and May 11, 2008, had also stretched department resources and fire personnel. They assisted residents in what was later declared a federal disaster area as the tornadoes damaged more than 650 homes and 170 businesses causing more than $9 million dollars in damages.

“We faced several challenging events in 2008, and our personnel rose to the occasion,” Thomas said. “We had firefighters not on duty show up to work without having even been called. With the Carlisle fire, many firefighters would work their normal 24-hour shift and then come to Bowdon afterwards to help with the fire. All the personnel had to give up their personal time with their families with a year like last year. I can’t think of a more dedicated group than firefighters.”