By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Taylor Mill passed a municipal order this week disposing of a firetruck that the department doesn’t need anymore.
Commissioner Dan Murray called Bob Warde, Chief of the Taylor Mill Volunteer Firefighters, up to the podium to discuss a plan to donate the firetruck.
“We had donated a vehicle to the Coon Creek Volunteer Fire Department down in Leslie County before,” Warde explained. “They have had a difficult time recently, with the death of a firefighter.”
The death he referred to was an accident at the end of October in Wooten, about ten miles from Hazard, where three firefighters were responding to an ATV accident in a rescue truck. That truck hit gravel and slid off the road, careening down an embankment and eventually hitting a house.
Regina Huffman, 39, was trapped in the vehicle, which was being driven by her oldest son. She was taken to the hospital where she died of her injuries. Her son was injured, but recovered, and the other passenger was okay.
The department had two firetrucks, and the rescue truck. One of the firetrucks is still in service, but their other firetruck is at the point where it cannot be fixed any longer, so it is not in service. As a result of the accident, their rescue truck is not in service either.
When Taylor Mill purchased a new firetruck and had a 1996 model that they didn’t need, Warde approached city officials about donating the truck to Coon Creek. However, Taylor Mill’s truck has a tall cab, and it won’t fit in the small firehouse in Coon Creek.
With some more brainstorming, everyone agreed that the firetruck in Ryland Heights, which had been donated to Ryland Heights by the city of Independence, was just the right size. That truck has a smaller cab, but it is also a 1996 model. So it was agreed that the pumper from Taylor Mill would go to Ryland Heights, and the Ryland Heights pumper would be donated to Coon Creek.
A good solution for everyone.
“We gave another truck to Coon Creek, and currently that is the only one that is working,” said Warde. “With the last one, we had a few firefighters go down there with the truck to show them how to operate it, since it was new to them.”
Taylor Mill commissioners unanimously agreed to donate the truck, with or without compensation, and they will make the trade and deliver the truck as soon as possible.
In another piece of legislation, Commissioners also agreed to accept the gift of the brand new Volunteer Firefighters Memorial, in Pride Park, which was recently dedicated.
A contingent of volunteer firefighters from the three departments honored in the memorial, were present at the meeting to witness the handing over of the Memorial.