 |
GREG TRAVIS/Ledger & Times
Ronnie Burkeen, right, chief of the Murray-Calloway County D.E.S. Rescue Squad, and David Waldrop, assistant chief, look over papers stating their agency as the recognized rescue squad for Murray and Calloway County. |
DES: Documents make claim it is rescue squad
By GREG TRAVIS
Staff Writer
Ronnie Burkeen, chief of the Murray-Calloway County D.E.S. (Disaster and Emergency Services) Rescue Squad, says the recent confusion and misunderstandings regarding the use of the words “rescue squad” by different organizations could be easily alleviated if local authorities would simply instruct others to stop using the name in conjunction with their agencies.
“We are the rescue squad and the others are fire departments,” he said. “Others can call themselves anything they want, but that doesn't make them a ‘rescue squad.' We are the only body in the county that is recognized by county and state officials to operate as a rescue squad in Calloway County.”
Burkeen said the confusion recently resurfaced between DES and Calloway County Fire-Rescue. For some time all the fire departments and the D.E.S. Rescue Squad have worked together for the safety and concern of the citizens of the area. He also said he would like to see D.E.S. removed from their name and just go by the Murray-Calloway County Rescue Squad.
According to a story in Saturday's Ledger & Times, Calloway County Fire-Rescue Chief Greg Cherry said their corporation's attorney recently filed certificates of assumed names to be the legal holder of “Calloway County Rescue Squad,” “Murray-Calloway County Rescue Squad,” “Calloway Rescue Squad” and “Murray Rescue Squad.”
However, Burkeen and David Waldrop, assistant chief, believe a July 14, 1994 executive order from then-Calloway County Judge-Executive J.D. Williams and the fiscal court substantiates their position. The order reads, in part:
“Whereas, the Fiscal Court of Calloway County desires to provide for the rescue service needs of Calloway County residents at all times; and
“Whereas, the Fiscal Court of Calloway County has so ordered the establishment of a rescue squad unit to serve the interests of county government in a court order dated 14, August, 1984;
“Now, therefore, I, J.D. Williams, judge-executive of Calloway County, in order to carry out the mandate of the Fiscal Court, do hereby order and direct the following:
“There is hereby created the Murray-Calloway County DES Rescue Squad which shall be the agency of county government having primary responsibility and authority for the providing of rescue services in Calloway County. The provision of rescue services includes, but is not limited to, the necessary functions of planning, training, equipping, fund-raising, publicizing, maintenance and execution of emergency response and recovery. The Murray-Calloway County Rescue Squad shall, for administrative and accountability purposes, be a unit of the Calloway County DES's office and shall function under the direction of the Calloway County DES Coordinator and the Chief Officer of Rescue in the above chain of command. ...”
Burkeen, who said he had talked to regional and state DES officials, pointed out that in his agency's “Statement of Affiliation for Calloway County Search and Rescue Squad,” the group shall serve the citizens of Calloway County by “providing fully trained and equipped personnel who will take the lead role in the following types of missions: land search and rescue; water search and rescue; urban search and rescue and building collapse; high angle rescue; damage assessment; providing emergency electrical power; and decontamination of the public chemical contamination.”
It also notes that they will “respond and assist other agencies and departments, but not take the lead role in the following types of missions: vehicular accidents; trench and confined space and rescue; weather spotting; crowd and vehicle control; bomb threats and weapons of mass destruction attacks; debris removal; emergency medical services support; and hazardous material releases.”
Burkeen said his agency does assist with many of these type situations on a regular basis, but the statement notes that his agency “will not respond to structural fires and law enforcement criminal activities.”
According to Cherry, CCFR expanded its rescue role into responding to blazes in the 1960s. At that time, he said, the volunteer force was run strictly on donations and gradually accumulated trucks and boats.
By 1984, the fire tax district was formed and the operations were split into two groups - fire and rescue. The fire side is run with these tax dollars, which generates about $425,000. Meanwhile, donations maintain the rescue side of the department.
Cherry said CCFR cleared $18,081 last year in its by-mail fund-raiser to help maintain and upgrade rescue-related equipment.
Burkeen said the D.E.S. Rescue Squad receives no tax money, but does receive a monthly allotment of $500 from the fiscal court.
“We were in the process of conducting a fund raiser to help with the purchase of new equipment when all this confusion started back up,” he said. “But this has stopped those efforts.”
He said the recent situation is serious because many operational costs are out-of-pocket expenses. “We are a volunteer agency and that $500 per month gets exhausted in a hurry. We don't receive large amounts of money generated from fire taxes.”
Burkeen said it is also the public that suffers the most when confusion like this happens and that county and state officials should enforce rules and regulations that have already been established in order to help end the confusion.
“It's time we get this straightened out,” he said.
Story created Jun 29, 2006 - 12:30:15 EDT.
|
