By Andy Taylor
Montgomery County Chronicle – August 8, 2013
Submitted by Newz Group Clipping Service – August 28, 2013
The quest by emergency officials to search the Verdigris River for two drowning victims two weeks ago has led to an insurance dilemma that may affect the way future emergency searches are conducted.
Montgomery County commissioners on Monday were alerted to a truck mishap that occurred two weeks ago on Brown’s Ford Bridge north of Coffeyville during the search for a drowning victim. Darren Felts of the Montgomery County Rural Fire Department said a member of the rural fire department was using a personal vehicle to pull a trailer containing a generator belonging to the South Coffeyville Fire Department. When the truck was parked on the bridge, the trailer somehow became unhitched from the vehicle, and the trailer’s hitch collided with the truck’s tailgate, causing between $2,100 to $2,400 in damage.
Felts said the rural firefighter was doing what was expedient at the time, which was to use a personal vehicle to pull the generator. The trailer could only be pulled by a specific ball and hitch, which no other vehicle in the rural fire department fleet had, he said. That’s why the firefighter pulled the generator to the site in a personal vehicle, he said.
The problem is that the county’s liability insurance will not cover the cost to replace the tailgate because the vehicle belonged to the rural firefighter and because the trailer belonged to the South Coffeyville Fire Department. No county vehicle or equipment was used in that specific collision between the trailer and the truck tailgate, he said.
Because the rural firefighter was doing something to assist in the search for the drowning victim, Montgomery County should bear the costs to replace the tailgate, Felts said.
He also said he would talk to the county’s insurance provider to see how future insurance entanglements involving private vehicles and equipment at emergency situations could be avoided. Sheriff Robert Dierks was also awaiting the result of those discussions to see how his department would respond to emergency situation, Felts said.
Commissioners said they had an obligation to replace the firefighter’s dented tailgate.
“We have some responsibility,” said commission chairman Fred Brown.
On a related note, Felts updated commissioners on the commission’s decision to purchase 21 new pagers for the rural fire department in the wake of the recent drowning and recovery on the Verdigris River. That decision was made last week with revenue from the 911 system to be used to purchase the pagers.
However, Felts said Monday that state law bars 911 revenue from being used to purchase pagers. The money can only be used for the actual 911 dispatch and communication system, which does not involve pagers for the rural fire department.
As a result of learning the impact of the state law, Felts said the rural fire department would purchase 13 pagers with rural fire money.
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