HC Rescue Squad Changing to Fire & Rescue
Hancock Clarion 1975: EMERGENCY SQUAD TAKING SHAPE—From
left, Rev. L.C. Garett, his son, Kendall Garrett, and Marvin Payne are principals in the formation of the new Hancock County Rescue Squad. The squad will offer its services in case of tragedies or disaster. Already numbering about twenty-five members, the squad will hold an organizational meeting on Tuesday night, January 13, in the Circuit Courtroom of the Hancock County Courthouse.
The Hancock County Rescue Squad, established in January of 1976, will now be changing over to HC Fire & Rescue. Their responsibilities will be assumed under the Volunteer Fire Department umbrella now, Judge-Executive Johnny Roberts said.
“Fire and Rescue will provide the same emergency services that they have always provided to our county,” Roberts added. “Anyone that meets the volunteer fire department statutory requirements is welcome to apply. This streamlining update of departments will boost efficiency in regards to training and preparedness.
We are so blessed in our community to have the volunteers that we have in all departments. Our Fire and Rescue Department is filled with selfless individuals that put others ahead of themselves. We are thankful to have them.”
There are 17 members, and HC Rescue Squad Chief Kenny Stuart (52) has been with the squad since he was 18. His wife, Melinda (Wheatley) Stuart, has served on the squad for many years as well.
All of the HC Rescue Squad equipment that was housed at their one station in Hawesville will now be housed at the county’s fire stations, including two sets of Jaws Of Life (JOL) with corresponding pumps, equipment for cutting & spreading, large & small hydraulic tool sets, various sizes of airbags for lifting, 2 trucks with battery set-up & power inverters, back boards, spine boards, 2 boats, sub-water flares, etc.
After the tragedy in Hancock County of two local 18-year-olds, Michael Couty and Leslie Baker, losing their lives when their vehicle went over a bridge on Middle Knottsville Road is when the County’s squad first formed. The two teens were on their way to go bowling with friends.
Vice-Regent of Yellow Banks Chapter DAR Debra Owens is the late Michael Couty’s sister. “The Rescue Squad was created as a result of my brother’s death,” she said. “For years, we wondered why he passed away at such a young age, but then we realized his death was the sacrifice to save so many other lives because it caused the rescue squad to be created.”
Former HC Rescue Squad Chief Dennis Wheatley recalled how the squad was first organized saying, “Jim Fallen was judge and he was quite ambitious about it. We had some help from Daviess County and different places to organize.
Cletus Garrett (Rev. L.C. Garrett) was probably the first chief. God allowed us to be a part of some of His miracles. We actually started to pray about what we were doing.”
The Hancock County Civil Defense Squad, as it was officially titled in the beginning, was established as an all-volunteer emergency organization serving the entire county. The very first emergency that the 33 original members responded to was a missing 14-year-old boy named David Sullivan on Sunday, February 15th, 1976.
Members enlisted the help of Kentuckiana Radio Emergency Action Citizens Team, Daviess County Rescue & Emergency Division and others, totaling over 300 rescue service members and individual volunteers, and successfully returned the boy to his family at 12:30 a.m., after he’d been lost in the woods for over 6 hours.
Unfortunately, there aren’t as many rescue squads as there used to be across the Commonwealth of Kentucky because most of them have been absorbed into the fire departments.
By Jennifer Wimmer
