KINGWOOD — The Tunnelton Volunteer Fire Department received the county commission’s blessing this week to begin fielding a medic.
TVFD Chief Franklin Schnopp presented figures showing from Aug. 1, 2017, through Aug. 1 of this year, “76 percent of the 911/emergency calls within the Tunnelton area were responded to by another agency than the Tunnelton Community Ambulance Service.”
Coming from outside the area lengthened response time to about 29 minutes. The firefighters said this was, “a shocking finding.” Which is why the department decided to add a medic to its fire and rescue first responders, they said.
The firefighters gave examples of the response time from some other ambulance stations to Tunnelton: Rowlesburg, 22 minutes, 12 miles away; Terra Alta, 29 minutes, 19.2 miles; KAMP, 15 minutes, 9.8 miles; Bruceton, 37 minutes, 24.9 miles; Mountaineer, 12 minutes, 7.2 miles; Mon County, 54 minutes, 35.4 miles; Taylor County, 31 minutes, 22.2 miles; and Union, 30 minutes, 18.9 miles.
Schnopp said the state recommends getting commission support for the move. Commissioners Craig Jennings, Dave Price and Don Smith voted 3-0 to provide a letter of support.
“It’s a tough county to deal with,” Price said. “One of the first things is our size and the geography, especially in the winter.”
Schnopp said they have obtained mutual aid agreements with other county providers but Mountaineer and Tunnelton ambulance services did not respond, he said.
TVFD’s volunteers already include EMTs and a paramedic, and others are interested in taking training to learn more. The type of life-saving treatments that can be administered varies with the level of certification, he said.
Schnopp said they have a crew cab Ford with the same equipment as an ambulance and borrowed a monitor from Masontown, which costs $12,000 if purchased.
Also at the meeting Monday, commissioners declared October Breast Cancer Awareness Month and county administrator Kathy Mace updated them on an application for a 2019 electronic recycling grant.
Preston has been awarded $16,305 for 2019, Mace said. That’s up from this year’s grant of $9,170.
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