TOP STORY
Photograph by Joe Farruggia
|
|
Shenandoah Rescue Squad At A Crossroads
Franchise Agreement To Be Terminated This Week
By Joe Farruggia
The dispute between the Shenandoah Volunteer Rescue Squad and Page County took a twist this week when county supervisors revealed that the squad’s franchise agreement will be terminated on Thursday if it can’t be resolved.
Although a recent financial audit, required of all local rescue squads, has come back good, the county continues to refuse to allow the squad to receive calls.
Residents of Shenandoah and its immediate environs can still call 911 in cases of emergency, but those calls are being diverted to a temporary squad set up by the county in April after it suspended the Shenandoah squad’s franchise agreement.
The temporary squad, consisting of both volunteers and paid county employees, uses a county-owned ambulance to run calls from a temporary headquarters in the parking lot next to the Shenandoah Town Police Office, said Wes Shifflett, coordinator of fire and rescue services for Page County.
Shifflett said the squad averages 8-10 calls per week.
Both Shifflett and District 5 Supervisor Jeff Vaughan said the temporary squad will continue to operate until the situation in Shenandoah is rectified, and that residents will experience no lapse in service.
Vaughan said on Monday that the board of supervisors sent a letter to the Shenandoah squad on May 26 giving it 90 days to resolve differences over the franchise or face the termination of the franchise agreement.
That 90-day deadline is up on Th ...
6 comments
|
