CROSS LANES, W.Va. — Dozens of members of the Cross Lanes community came to the Tyler Mountain Volunteer Fire Department station Thursday evening to get an understanding as to why the station’s chief and entire board, except for one member, resigned.
The board members resigning before Thursday’s meeting came after a multitude of the nearly 25 volunteer firefighters resigned back in June. Approximately 11 of the firemen that resigned stated that they would consider re-joining the department if the previous board members resigned, and those 11 firemen are expected to return to duty.
Firefighter Daniel Keffer says despite some veterans potentially returning, there has been damage done.
“A lot of the damage has already been done,” Keffer said. “We got rid of our twin trucks that were set up for our area, and I think a lot of it was individuals didn’t agree with those trucks, but we had them built and customized for us and what fit our needs.”
Keffer also says the recent animosity between the board and the crew is not something he and his co-workers are used to dealing with.
“I’ve been here 20 years, and 15-17 years of it, I never heard anything about the board,” Keffer said. “They did their thing, we did ours. They paid the bills, kept the lights on, and make sure we had what we needed. The past couple of years, whoever has power in the board, wants power of everything.”
The lone board member remaining is Barry Holstein, who just joined the Tyler Mountain Fire Department board a little over a month ago and was still getting acclimated to the role before the ship started to sink.
Holstein, who held the makeshift meeting outside of the station in a solo effort, offered his thanks to the firefighters who didn’t let the controversy stop them from protecting the community.
“I appreciate the firefighters who are willing to not let some of this get in the way of them protecting our community,” Holstein said.
For now, Holstein remains the lone board member of the station until the community votes on a re-constituted board in September.
Kanawha County Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman was on hand for the meeting to help answer what little questions weren’t directed to Holstein, and he says the station is facing unprecedented times until new board members are elected.
“It’s kind of unprecedented here what they’re going to do,” Sigman said. “It’s six weeks until the next board meeting, so they’re going to have to take some measures in the next six weeks to kind of hold it in check until this community can decide what they’re going to do.”
Sigman also said the community needs to rally around the department and let their voices be heard when September rolls around.
“It’s a community fire department,” Sigman said. “If the community cares, they need to be out here to support it and make those decisions. The community needs to make those decisions, not anybody else. It belongs to them.”
While there were not hundreds of citizens in the department’s parking lot, there were a few dozen that showed their support for the department by asking questions, taking notes, bringing up new suggestions, and voicing their concerns.
Keffer says if that energy stays the same, the department will be just fine.
“If people keep caring like they do now, we should be fine,” Keffer said.
Keffer continued that the next few weeks will be challenging, but the firefighters will do their best with the numbers they have.
“It’s never going to be perfect like everybody wants, but it’s going to be the best we can do with what we’ve got.”
The next board meeting for the Tyler Mountain Volunteer Fire Department is set for September 5 as of now.