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Culpeper squad's license pulled

State suspends Culpeper's oldest rescue squad again

BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

Date published: 5/31/2007

By Warren Jenkins BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

The Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services has once again suspended the Culpeper County Volunteer Rescue Squad's license to operate.

Steve Bassnett, who heads the E-911 Dispatch Center, said yesterday that the center received a call from squad President Trish Trenary about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday saying that she had received a letter from the state advising of the suspension.

Warren Jenkins, spokesman for the Culpeper Office of Emergency Services, said the county's paid emergency personnel will answer calls in the squad's territory, which includes the town of Culpeper.

"We've received nothing official in writing," said Jenkins. "We're just acting on Trish Trenary's call."

The squad, also known as Company 11, received its initial suspension notice Jan. 2. At that time, it was cited for "not answering 100 percent of our calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, continuously," according to Trenary.

It was reinstated on Feb. 27 and had been operating since.

Trenary said yesterday that the squad was re-suspended on the original charge as a result of a fact-finding conference held by the state in March.

She added that "the state failed to take into consideration a 1999 agreement with the county and a meeting [Culpeper Emergency Services Director] Tom Williams had with the squad" earlier this year.

At that meeting, Trenary said, county officials pledged their help to get the struggling Company 11 back on its feet. The squad is Culpeper's oldest, dating back to 1943.

In early April, Company 11 ran a newspaper advertisement trying to recruit emergency services personnel to help answer calls.

That plan was met with stiff opposition from both the county and the local Fire and Rescue Association. They said that by hiring personnel, the volunteer unit would be competing with the county's paid responders.

Trenary said the latest suspension came as somewhat of a shock, especially since Company 11 was responding to more than 40 percent of the calls in its area. She added that the squad, at one point down to three active members, now has an active list of about 20, with six recruits in training.

She said the state's letter did not include criteria the squad must meet to lift the suspension.

"We don't know what they want," she said.

Of the state's action, Trenary said, "It's certainly not helping the citizens of Culpeper County."

Company 11 has 30 days to respond to the state letter, and a formal hearing will be scheduled.

"We're not giving up and going home," Trenary said. "We're going to fight for the citizens of this community."

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Date published: 5/31/2007