By Josephine E. Moore
The Register-Herald
RALEIGH COUNTY, W.Va. — Two volunteer fire departments in Raleigh County are requesting funds from the county commission to improve their ambulance services.
During a staff meeting Tuesday, Raleigh County Fire Coordinator Jason Whiting told Raleigh County commissioners that the Coal City Volunteer Fire Department and the Bradley-Prosperity Volunteer Fire Department were requesting funds from the county’s ambulance fund to purchase ambulance equipment.
Whiting said this would help address the growing number of medical emergencies the volunteer fire departments are responding to.
“Bradley-Prosperity has doubled their 911 calls that they ran from last year to this year, and Coal City has probably close to quadruple the 911 calls that they run from last year to this year,” Whiting said. "... In the fire service, the majority of the calls we’re running nowadays are a lot of EMS-based calls.”
While the item was tabled from the commission meeting, which was immediately after the staff meeting on Tuesday morning, Whiting said the commission is looking to gather more information before deciding whether to dedicate the funds.
Whiting said the Coal City VFD is requesting roughly $70,000 from the county’s ambulance fund to start an ambulance service in Rhodell. The majority of funds would go toward the purchase of an ambulance.
In May, the Raleigh County Commission approved the dissolution of the town of Rhodell. Town residents voted to dissolve the town in 2017, but the decision was stalled due to the town’s outstanding debts.
Around this time, Whiting said the fire chief from the Rhodell VFD quit and there was no one else qualified to take on the role.
As a result, Whiting said the State Fire Marshal’s Office closed Rhodell VFD and directed the Coal City VFD to cover the area.
Whiting said the Coal City VFD is using the former Rhodell VFD location as a substation.
He added that they have an operational fire truck at the location and have asked the county to purchase an ambulance, which would also be housed at the Rhodell station.
For the Bradley-Prosperity VFD, Whiting said they are requesting funds to purchase and repair ambulance equipment.
Whiting said volunteer fire departments providing emergency medical services are helping to alleviate some of the burden facing EMS companies.
“Many times these ambulances are running all over the county,” he said. “It wouldn’t be nothing to see a Bradley-Prosperity ambulance running a call and in Trap Hill and vice versa ... We’ve got to a point where there’s so many emergency medical calls out there, the ambulance services are taxed all the time, so the faster we can get first responders out – and some of these (volunteer fire) departments have paramedics as well, so some of them can even begin advanced life support treatment on patients that are sick.”
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