Council committee updated on city fire department upgrade plans
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Councilman Francis Lydian speaks during Thursday’s meeting of the Bardstown City Council safety committee.
Thursday, June 11, 2015, 8 p.m. — The Bardstown Fire Department is quickly moving forward with its plans to continue providing the same level of fire protection it always has provided while the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department (BNCVFD) prepares to relocate to its new fire station.
Following the Bardstown City Council’s approval of the budget amendment Tuesday night, Chief Marlin Howard said checks were written to make purchases of additional fire department equipment, including a used water tanker truck that will shipped from Oak Harbor, Wash., and a combination brush/rescue truck purchased from the Southeast Bullitt Fire Department.
Howard provided the update Thursday afternoon at the Bardstown City Council’s safety committee meeting.
The city fire department is also receiving rescue tools and other supplies it will add to the coming vehicles.
Howard also reported that no mutual aid agreement has been signed between the city fire department and the volunteer department, but in discussions with its chief J.T. Bass, Howard said he expects that an agreement will be forthcoming. Howard also noted that the existing mutual aid agreements signed by the city fire departments will need to be modified to accommodate Chief Bass taking the helm of the BNCVFD.
Howard told the committee that the city fire department was the first on the scene of Wednesday morning’s crash involving a FedEx tractor-trailer rig that overturned in the eastbound lanes at the Bluegrass Parkway’s 13 mile marker.
The city’s fulltime firefighters are now EMTs, and they provided immediate assistance to the FedEx driver. By the time the Nelson County EMS squad arrived, firefighters had the driver ready for transport to Hardin Memorial Hospital.
Committee chairman Bill Buckman asked Howard and his command staff how many firefighters were left to protect the city while the crew was out on the parkway tending to the FedEx crash.
“None,” Howard replied. Had a fire department response been necessary for an emergency in the city limits, the response would have required a response by volunteers or mutual aid from one of the county’s fire departments.
“So everybody prayed that nothing else happened in the city,” Buckman said.
The all-volunteer Boston Fire Department was also dispatched to FedEX crash, and their units arrived after the driver was transferred to EMS for transport to the hospital, and took command of the scene so the Bardstown Fire units could return to their station.
In 2014, the average fire personnel per run was about 12, Howard said. That figure includes fulltime, part-time and volunteer firefighters.
-30-
