Gray Hawk Volunteer Fire & Rescue First Responders Are Hometown Heroes

Members of the Gray Hawk Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department include Chief Cleon Bingham, Brody Keck, Doug Neeley, Wes Conn, Ed Groff, Chris Parker, Gerald Gamble, Greg Hayes, Adam Isaacs, Kaleb Spence, Philip Scott, Justin Isaacs, Jimmy Peters, Wendell Frye, Jamie Welch, Kyle Welch, and Michelle Gamble

True heroes live among us! When the county or residents find themselves in a crisis there are people that do their best to help solve the problems. These people are distributed throughout the private sector and the government; many are volunteers. They are called "First Responders"! Over the years Jackson County Emergency Medical Services, Jackson County Emergency Management, Jackson County Law Enforcement Officers (Sheriff's Office, McKee Police Department & County Constables), Jackson Energy, Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative, and those who work for Jackson County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Departments have saved countless lives!

These people are bonafide community heroes in every sense of the word. These men and women are on the clock 24 hrs a day. The community makes the mistake of taking them for granted. They are always there. They have always been there. They assist in many necessary functions that one would expect from local government and local businesses...however, because they are truly invested in their community, many of these amazing people also do it for free! Whether it is responding to a burning house or building, rescuing a child, searching for a missing person, cutting someone from a wrecked automobile, providing emergency medical assistance, assisting local law enforcement by directing traffic at a local event, cutting a tree out of the road, providing assistance to a motorist, responding to a busted water line, preparing a landing zone for a helicopter ambulance, getting electrical power restored, reestablishing connection to the internet or simply cleaning a parking lot the "First Responders" provide a crucial service to our community. These people respond when needed regardless of the time of day or weather conditions.

Funding for Volunteer Fire Departments - Jackson County Fire Alliance

It is important to understand that even though the firefighters work on a volunteer basis, a volunteer fire department requires operational funding. It is also important to understand that the four Fire Departments each have their own Chief (Lonnie Madden, Sand Gap - Kyle Welch, McKee, Cleon Bingham, Gray Hawk, and Jason Gabbard, Pond Creek) and are operationally independent of one another. However, they do provide mutual assistance to one another when an emergency arises.

These volunteers spend about 300 hours per year on the job, providing service to our community. It takes 20 hours of commitment just to keep up the required certification. How much is that worth to a community? How much would it cost to hire someone to do this job? Often, volunteers will leave their regular jobs and clock out just to respond to an emergency for the community as a volunteer. In addition, as volunteers, all their personal expenses are paid out of their own pockets. This equals approximately $1,000/year just to cover gas and vehicle maintenance. They pay this out of their own pockets just to help the community. Heroes! They pay to help us! In addition, by keeping their departments up to code and meeting certification requirements their service translates into an ISO rating that impacts everyone's property insurance rate. One resident at a recent meeting had checked what their insurance would be without the presence of the Gray Hawk Fire Department and they would have to pay $600 more! Keeping our fire departments in place not only keeps the community safer it saves us money!

Funding remains one of the main challenges for all the departments. According to the Chiefs, last year's operating costs for the various departments range from $21,000/yr for Sand Gap to $72,000/yr for McKee. The McKee Department is more expensive because it has multiple stations and covers a great deal of area that is not within the city limits. Last year, Chief Bingham estimated the costs to operate the Gray Hawk Department at approximately $27,000/yr while former Chief Larry Bowling estimated the costs for the Pond Creek Department to be approximately $26,500/yr. Of course, these estimates do not take into account the higher costs resulting from recent inflation. The costs are substantially higher this year. The Chiefs scrape money together any way they can, including bucket fundraisers on the street, yard sales, minimal assistance from the State, and donations. Chief Bingham said there were times when they paid the utility bills out of their own pocket to keep the department open and functioning. If you want to help protect your property, help our community or you just want to keep your property insurance rate low, please donate to your local fire department! Donations are tax-deductible! McKee Chief Kyle Welch said, "We love all of you. We want to help in any way we can. If you can help us help the community, please do! Gray Hawk Chief Cleon Bingham said, "We will do anything humanly possible to help you with anything. If you could help us just a little bit it will make a difference." Sand Gap Chief Lonnie Madden said, "We are there for everyone. If you can help a little it will help keep our doors open." All the Chiefs and their departments will help you whether you donate or not. However, every little bit helps. Being a Volunteer firefighter means being a good neighbor. A good neighbor will come to your assistance regardless of where you live!"

To help facilitate fundraising, the Jackson County Development Association recently helped them come together to form the "Jackson County Fire Alliance". This allows collective fundraising that can be shared amongst all four fire departments. By aligning themselves with the JCDA (a 501c non-profit organization), it also makes all donations to the alliance 100% tax deductible. The Jackson County Development Association has established an account at the Jackson County Bank where you can make your deposit/donation. Alternatively, people can write checks to the Jackson County Development Association and mark them for the fire departments. It will be split evenly among the four departments. It can be donated to a single fire department if the check is specifically noticed. For tax purposes, it is important to note that the JCDA is a 501(c)(3).

Donations/checks can be mailed to ATTN: Jackson County Fire Alliance PO Box 861, McKee, KY 40447

The next time you see a First Responder at Opal's or DQ point them out and show your children what a true hero looks like! Maybe they will grow up to work at one of these vital places or even volunteer!! There are many important individuals in the Jackson County community, but none more important than a First Responder!