New Castle Fire and Rescue headed by Chief Greg Smith held their inaugural Fall Fling event on Saturday with a variety of vendors including the All Porked Out barbecue food truck, family fun activities like pumpkin painting and a Halloween bounce house, live music from Frankfort musician Andy Palmer and crew demonstration of a car crash extrication.
The events raised funds for the department in addition to awareness about the demand for firefighting volunteers and the work they do.
New Castle department volunteers Sabrina Doll, Logan Judy, Daniel Jones and Tray Curry performed the extrication of two dummies from a Jeep Grand Cherokee donated by Mosby’s Towing & Transport while New Castle Assistant Chief Michael Ellis explained the process to those gathered to watch.
The demonstration featured the battery-powered extrication tools that the department purchased last year through grant funding for $40,000. The tools included a metal cutter, a hydraulic spreader to clear metal away from entrapped victims to free them and a telescopic ram to push collapsed dashboards from the legs and feet of victims in wrecked vehicles.
Prior to the demonstration, Ellis related how the battery-powered extrication tools have worked in replacement of the gas-powered ones previously used by the department.
“It takes less time to get them ready,” Ellis said of the new extrication tools. “All you have to do is take them out, and they’re ready to go.”
Ellis said the tools are quieter than the previous type used, which allows crews to communicate better at the scene.
The crew also demonstrated how the wrecked vehicle is stabilized prior to extrication and the car battery connection cut.
“You’ve got to make sure everything’s good to go before you ever start cutting on the car,” said Daniel Jones, who also commented about the importance of precision in using the tools and the critical purpose of extrication to free victims for emergency transport.
“They can get medical treatment in the car while we’re extricating at the same time, but you’ve got to extricate them to get them advanced medical care.”
During the demonstration, Logan Judy used the cutter and spreader to remove the driver’s side doors. As a Junior Firefighter Program volunteer, Judy has met the certification required for teen firefighters to respond with their department when the tones call them to action.
“The first time I ever went on a run, we were responding to a car wreck on a fire engine,” he said, adding that the adrenalin of the experience and the purpose behind it fueled his drive to become a first responder.
“I do what I do because I like helping people. I’ve always liked helping our community. Helping others is our number one thing.”
For Judy, his interest in volunteer firefighting began with his father Steve Judy, formerly of the Lake Jericho fire department, and his grandfather, who he said worked as an EMT in Goshen, Ohio. But his commitment to the New Castle department came through the contact he initiated to begin his first responder way of life in earnest.
“I actually texted New Castle Fire on Facebook,” he said. “I just wanted to do it.”
The family tradition and firehouse visits during youth are shared by many of the firefighters, including former New Castle chief and current department safety officer Wesley Benham, whose father Dennis “Sugar Bear” Benham formerly served as New Castle deputy chief.
“Pretty much growing up with it,” Benham said of the firefighting tradition. “Every training night you’d come down here for it. It just becomes natural. It’s in your blood.”
The firefighting family tradition and the call to action early on also motivated Tray Curry, who started at the age of 15 and now at the age of 21 remains committed to the first responder mission. Curry is a fifth-generation firefighter, who visited the Lake Jericho firehouse early on with his father Shane Curry, who was a firefighter there, plus his mother’s side of the family is the Lucas firefighting family of Eminence, whose members have answered the first responder call for several decades.
Curry also praised the Junior Firefighter Program for its appeal for youth who want to join the ranks of volunteer fire departments throughout the county, not only New Castle.
“All you have to do is have parental consent to join the fire department,” he said, adding that program volunteers must meet academic and behavior standards comparable to high school student athletes.
“It gives them experience, and we also allow them to do community service if they have that for school.”
While the inaugural Fall Fling provided a recruitment outreach for the department, the fundraising aim of the event remained at the forefront.
“All the proceeds are going to the New Castle fire department, so we can purchase gear and equipment,” said Secretary Christina Ellis.
The extrication demonstration showcased how some of that necessary equipment is put to work, but the event also provided more opportunities to see much of the gear and the apparatus that the department has available for use, including a gear dryer that enables firefighters to dry what they wear after their response is finished.
“We use to have to go to another department to wash and dry our own gear,” said Michael Ellis. “Then we started getting our own equipment so we could do it all in-house.”
Ellis added that state aid helped pay for the gear dryer. He also commented that the full set of firefighter gear costs between $3,500 and $4,000 per volunteer, but the gear is considered outdated after 10 years.
“Something we’re very proud of is that all of our firefighters have in-date gear,” he said.
As Deputy Chief, Sabrina Doll also addressed many of the costs and expenses that the fire department faces.
“It’s very expensive to run a firehouse,” she said.
Chief among those expenses are the costs required for apparatus. Doll said replacement of apparatus remains a priority, like that of their current 1995 brush truck.
“We’re actually getting ready to purchase a 2007 we found,” she said.
Doll said their tanker was the last apparatus purchased by the department. New Castle also has two fire engines and two vehicles to secure on-scene command.
Doll added that the department recently received a grant through the state forestry department that will help outfit the brush truck purchase with “different equipment that we have to use for brush fires, field fires, because a lot of equipment we have is outdated.”
Doll hopes the inaugural Fall Fling is the start of the New Castle Fire and Rescue annual fundraising event tradition to “upgrade the firehouse and get our firefighters some equipment.” While the annual New Castle fish fry is renowned in the county, it is not a significant department fundraiser because, as Doll said, almost all of the proceeds benefit the WHAS Crusade For Children charity based in Louisville.
“So, we’re not really making any money on the fish fry,” she said.
To find out more about volunteer opportunities with New Castle Fire and Rescue or how to donate to their cause, contact the department through their Facebook page or email the department at [email protected].