By Jeniffer Graham
For the Dominion Post
KINGWOOD – Senators Randy Smith and Jay Taylor presented Kingwood Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ethan Rouzee with an $8,000 check Tuesday. According to Rouzee, the money will be used to purchase new water rescue equipment.
Rouzee said there has been a recent increase in water-related calls and described an incident that happened several years ago that resulted in the VFD using his personal raft to cross the river to look for an individual on the other side and another incident he said involved a woman who fell down an embankment at the river and struck her head on a rock.
According to its website, the Kingwood VFD was established in 1899 and serves Kingwood, Manown, Howesville, Preston and Caddell Mountain. covering a total of 54 square miles and supporting a combined population of about 5,500. Company 5, is “equipped and trained to handle many types of calls aside from just fighting fires, including but not limited to: motor vehicle/ATV collisions, technical rescues (such as rope rescues, heavy extrications, trench rescues, equipment/machinery rescues, and confined space rescues), HazMat situations, search and rescue, and hazardous conditions. We are equipped/trained to assist other departments throughout the county in other areas, such as underwater rescue/recovery, swift water rescues, animal rescues, structural collapse, and more. We strive to be able to serve our community and the surrounding areas to help out those in need, in as many fields of assistance as we can train and prepare for.”
In addition to its own services, KVFD works in coordination with 11 other fire departments in Preston County, four ambulance squads, Company 17, the County Dive Team, and Company 30, the Preston County Hazards Incident Response Team (HIRT) ensuring comprehensive emergency response capabilities throughout the region.
Smith said the $8,000 for the Kingwood department came from the Local Economic Development Act funds. The Local Economic Development Act is implemented through the Local Economic Development Grant program, administered by the West Virginia Department of Economic Development. The program is authorized by the West Virginia Legislature to support county- or multi-county-level economic development efforts.
