A woman’s death in Horry County, S.C., has sparked some controversy over the merits of career versus volunteer firefighters when responding to an incident.

Angela Cannon, 51, died from smoke inhalation in her mobile home, which was located down the road from a volunteer fire station that was unmanned at the time of the blaze. The family complained that if the station was manned with career firefighters, Cannon would still be alive.

However, Garry Alderman, fire chief of the Horry County Fire Rescue, said sprinklers, not additional career firefighters, may have saved the woman’s life.

“There’s concern from the people that what would have happened if there would have been career firefighters at that station,” he said. “The difference in the fire would have been if the house would have been sprinklered.”

Like many fire departments nationwide, Alderman does not have the budget to hire any additional full-time firefighters. The chief has added full-time staff to seven county stations since he became chief in 2001. Now, the combination department has 319 uniformed personnel and 225 volunteers. They man 32 fire stations — 14 of which are volunteer — and seven standalone EMS stations, and protect more than 1,100 square miles, which includes rural, suburban and coastal areas. He said the way budgets are nationally and locally, there is little chance of hiring career members to replace volunteers.

“Unfortunately the way it is nationwide with the way the economy is and the budgets are, there is no way possible that the county could afford to do that,” he said. “Last year we got a SAFER grant for 18 people and that got us to 319. Ideally though, I need both careers and volunteers.”

Alderman said he believes the sprinklers would have saved the woman’s life. However, South Carolina currently doesn’t include the technology in its building code for residential structures.

“It sure would be nice in the future if that these single family homes could have sprinklers in them. That was something the firefighters association was pushing last year to get passed in legislation and it sort of got held off,” he said. “I am a firm believer that residential sprinklers are going to save lives.”