PULASKI COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Eubank Volunteer Fire Department in Pulaski County says a decades-old problem is getting worse: bystanders showing up to active fire scenes with cameras and blocking firefighters from getting there.
"You don't want to be the cause of somebody getting burned up in a fire," Fire Chief Norman Rutheford said.
The department usually has 12 to 14 vehicles responding to fire scenes. Rutherford said it is already hard to get all their vehicles close to the action because the community is filled with narrow roads, creating issues in situations that may be life of death.
"They're driving four or five miles an hour right past the same place you're going. And you know, sometimes they'll look in the rear view mirror and see and they'll ease over," Rutheford added. "Sometimes they just drive right on down the road. Don't pay no attention to you behind them with your siren and your lights and everything else."
The issue has caused accidents for the department's vehicles.
"We have actually had a tanker that got in the ditch because of that, you know, it got over, the road fell in, and the tanker hit the ditch. Well, it was out of commission until the fire was over," Rutheford said.
The problem has gotten to the point where the fire department is addressing the issue on Facebook.
"If they're blocking us, we have the right to take the fire truck and push their vehicle out of the way," Rutherford said.
The chief notes it's the same people every time, keeping the fire department from fulfilling its responsibility.
He has a request for those individuals.
"Come up here and fill out an application, join us and get up at 2 o'clock. He's the one who needs to put in all these training hours that we do," Rutherford said.
