Bell County Volunteer Fire Department celebrates 45 years

Published 10:22 am Tuesday, October 1, 2024

By Jay Compton

The Bell County Volunteer Fire Department celebrated their 45th anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, with a community picnic and special ceremony at their headquarters in Page.

Tim Mills, the president of the BCVFD board, served as the master of ceremonies. The Bell County Air Force JROTC Color Guard presented the colors for a pledge of allegiance and National Anthem and Jacob Eitel gave the invocation.

Featured speakers included Michael Peters, State Rep. Adam Bowling, Chief Tim Howard and the BCVFD’s first Fire Chief Earl DeBusk.

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“We started in April of 1979. It’s very hard to believe that 45 years later here we are, certainly much bigger and much better than we were back then,” Tim Mills said.
Mills is the only active member of the department who has been involved all 45 years it has been in existence. He said his involvement with the volunteer fire department actually began back in 1971 when his parents’ furniture store burned.

“Back in 1971 there was no such thing as mutual aid, there were no two-way radios where you called for help, there wasn’t a dispatch in the courthouse,” he said. “They way you got fire service back then was you called the mayor and he would make the determination whether the city fire trucks could leave the city to fight a fire.”

Pineville’s fire department eventually responded but it was too late to keep the store from being a total loss.

“My mother and my father decided that Bell County had to have a fire service. They, along with others, fought to create the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department. My mother and father donated the very first station,” Mills said.

He explained that was why Arjay station is called Station No. 1, because it was the first station. Over the years the other stations were added: No. 2 in East Pineville, No. 3 in Fourmile, No. 4 in Clear Creek, No. 5 in Right Fork, No. 6 in Colmar, No. 7 in Calloway and No. 8 in Brownies Creek.

He recognized his mother, Bernadine Mills, who served as the BCVFD treasurer for 17 years.

Mills shared another unique fact is that Bell County is the only county in Kentucky with one Volunteer Fire Department with separate companies in each community. In other counties, each community has a separate fire department.

Michael Peters is a Marine Corps veteran who has served on volunteer fire departments and rescue squads in the London-Corbin area. He helps coordinate a 9/11 Patriot Day tribute in London each year.

“It is a huge honor for me to stand before you today. I have given my life to serve my community and my country,” he said. “I used to come to Bell County — Bell County was always the top volunteer fire department in the state of Kentucky, they had close to 200 members and the training was intense.”

During his patriotic speech, he said he came from a family of first responders and took time to thank all of them for their service.

“To the first responders in this room, you are the backbone of our society. You embody a spirit of resilience and compassion. . . your sacrifice often goes unnoticed, yet the impact of your work graces the lives of those that you protect,” he said.

State Rep. Adam Bowling said he was there to celebrate 45 years of service for the BCVFD and look forward to the next 45 years.

“That is people helping people, neighbors helping neighbors. Those are the principles on which this storied nation was founded,” he said. “Working together we’re going to be better, safer, and an all-around stronger community.”

He also wanted to personally thank each and every one of the volunteers.

“You all have put your lives on the line to help out a friend or neighbor in need,” he said. “We thank you all for your service. You all offer a great service to our community, you make this a better place to live and we cannot thank you enough. I would also be remiss if I didn’t say thank you to your families as well.”

BCVFD Fire Chief Tim Howard had an American flag that had been flown over the capitol. Peters helped to fold the flag and Tim and his wife, Viola, placed it in a special case where it can be displayed at the headquarters.

The volunteer firefighters also presented Chief Howard with a carved axe and Viola with an inscribed wooden firefighters flag in appreciation of their service.

Earl DeBusk, the very first chief of the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department, was also in attendance at Saturday’s celebration. He said it took thousands of people two years in the development of this fire department and they resisted making it a paid department so that the costs to the taxpayers would be minimal.

He left with a few words of encouragement to the volunteers in the form a Bible verse from Collossians.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your hearts, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive a seal from the Lord,” he said.

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