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Nola Sizemore

Staff Writer

During a special meeting Monday, the Harlan County Emergency Management E-911 Advisory Board has approved the purchase of a 10-kilowatt generator for standby power at the Baileys Creek radio site, which can be used in emergency situations such as during a power outage.

“During a recent storm, we had a power outage at the Baileys Creek radio site and it took a couple of days to get it back up,” said E-911 Board Director David McGill. “Kentucky Utilities (KU) does not service this power, so this is an issue in an emergency situation. All our other sites I have listed on critical infrastructure with KU, so if the power is out in that area that is one of the first things they get back up to make sure that power is restored. This is the main hub for our system.”

Running on propane with portable tanks, the generator will cost the board $5,000. Harlan County Rescue Squad Capt. Chris Allen said this type of generator has the capacity to run a normal household.

“The power line that goes up on Baileys Creek is owned by the Evarts TV Company,” said Harlan County Sheriff Marvin Lipfird. “We need a generator up there because the microwave hub talks to Louellen and Kingdom Come State Park and if that site goes down, they don’t talk to us in Cumberland or the Clover Fork area. They don’t talk to us period. The Kentucky State Police system is set up exactly the same way. The Evarts TV Company has volunteered to install the generator free of charge for us. “

Lipfird explained “daisy chaining” as a way of providing communication via satellite sites between different locations throughout the county. The motion to purchase was unanimous.

In other action, Lynch Chief of Police Mike Nunley asked the board to purchase an additional police vehicle mobile radio unit for the city of Lynch. Nunley said his department hopes to find funding to hire a third police officer and would need the additional unit for a third vehicle.

“In the previous police administration, when the county was giving the cities mobiles for their vehicles, Lynch had three vehicles, but were only given two mobiles,” said Nunley. “With the future addition of a third officer we will need an additional mobile. We’re a small community in Lynch and we’re just trying to get fully equipped.”

After a motion to purchase the mobile was made and a second with the stipulation it will be purchased upon the hiring of a third police officer, two board members voted for the approval of the motion, one abstained and three voted against the purchase. The request was denied.

“We had to buy ours,” said Wallins Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dean Green. “Everybody got their fair amount, I reckon. If the board wants to reimburse us for what we have already bought, then fine. I’d go for everybody having more radios. I don’t have anything against Lynch, but everybody was supposed to have gotten their fair amount of radios when they did this. We’ve turned down everybody else — Cumberland, Benham and Clover Fork.”

McGill said in the past they had turned down requests for additional radio mobiles, but at their last meeting approval was made for the purchase of radios for the Tri-City Rescue Squad only because they didn’t receive any radios in the initial giveaway.

“If we buy you an additional radio after we’ve already bought radios we’re opening ourselves up,” said McGill. “There are 15 fire departments and most of the fire departments have asked us to buy them more radios because they get very little funding. And, you have other police departments who have bought their additional radios as well. “

Reach Nola Sizemore at 606-573-4510 or at nsizemore@heartlandpublications.com