By Stephen Smoot
Falling temperatures and the onset of the Christmas season often come with rising challenges for first responders.
Last week was no different.
On Dec. 5, firefighters from both West Virginia and Virginia responded to a structure fire in the High View community. High View is a development that straddles the border between the Mountain State and the Old Dominion with approximately 50 lots in the former and around 100 in the latter.
Pendleton 911 dispatched the Franklin Volunteer Fire Department a few minutes after 3 p.m. to a structure fire on the 100 block of Free Stone Drive. The High View Development sets just off of US 220 as it passes into Virginia. According to the Franklin VFD Facebook page, “upon arrival, crews found a two-story log house heavily involved in fire,” but, thankfully “there were no occupants in the house and no injuries were sustained by the occupants or emergency personnel.”
Temperatures at the time of the response were subfreezing and dropped considerably during the several hours that the units were on scene. The high winds that swept the entire region exacerbated both the cold felt by responders and added challenges to working the fire.
Franklin VFD was assisted by South Fork VFD, Circleville VFD, Upper Tract VFD and Highland County VFD, McDowell VFD, both in Virginia, as well as Pendleton County Emergency Rescue. According to the Franklin VFD Facebook page personnel operated on scene for several hours. Doug Siron, Chief of the McDowell VFD, noted on Facebook that the call “was a rough one.”
Richard Nelson, chief of Franklin VFD, shared a “thank you to everyone that showed up in freezing conditions.”
The next day, Franklin VFD responded to an automobile accident on the 7800 block of US 33. A single occupant was transported by PCER for minor injuries.
Franklin VFD’s busy stretch concluded with coverage of Maysville Company 200 in Grant County. Their crews attended the Fort Ashby funeral of fellow fire fighter and former Mineral County Sheriff Jeremy Taylor.
