By Burton Cole
FALMOUTH — Over one magistrate’s objections, Pendleton County Fiscal Court voted last Tuesday to cut ties with the city and activate a county fire department.
Judge Executive David Fields tried to convince Falmouth City Council at its Nov. 7 to let the county buy the city building and fire equipment, and merge it into a countywide department.
City Council turned down the offer, stating it didn’t want to rush into anything without a proper chance to thoroughly weigh options for best fire service.
Fields recommended to Fiscal Court last week that the county end its inter-local agreement with the city — signed Aug. 2, 2023 — and activate the Pendleton County Volunteer Fire Department as of Jan. 1 to cover the unincorporated areas of Pendleton County.
Magistrate Darrin Gregg, who is training to be one of the county’s volunteer firefighters, said, “We don’t even have a building built yet. I understand we’ve got equipment sitting here and sitting there. I want to activate it as quickly as we can, but I think it’s a bad idea to activate it now.”
Fields said the county already has plans in place to use two of the four bays at the road department building on Kentucky 330 for a pumper, a tanker and brush fire truck, and will have a pumper and another tanker at another county building.
The resolution to activate the department states that “PCVFD has more than 18 certified volunteers plus 10 additional volunteers receiving certification training, the volunteers are eager and enthusiastic to serve the citizens of Pendleton County through the PCVFD.”
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