Since receiving the news about purchasing a new ambulance, the membership of New Creek have scheduled several ambulance manufactures for demos. So far the department has viewed demos from Medtec, PL Custom, Life Line, and Horton. There are 2 more scheduled for Tuesday the 14th at 17:00. Those are McColy Miller and Road Rescue. A decision should be made shorty after the final 2 demos are complete, and after the dealer bids are returned for review. Keep checking back for updates.

The membership of New Creek Volunteer Fire Department would like to congratulate Firefighter-in training Kurtis Cosner for passing firefighter 1. Kurtis is nearly complete all minimum requirements set forth by the department.

Firefighter/EMT Caleb Sherwood competed this past week in the SkillsUSA firefighting competition in Kansas City MO. Caleb was the delegate selected to represent West Virginia in the national competition. Some of the tasks included portions of the CPAT (candidate physical ability test), and a written firefighting aptitude test.

Caleb comes from a history of well respected firefighters who have/had served the New Creek Valley. His brother Cody Dennis (currently 1st LT), grandfather George "Jim" Evans (past chief), great-uncle Phil Evans (lifetime firefighter) and great grandfather George Evans (lifetime member/past president). We feel this is only the beginning, and look forward to a strong and bright future for this generation of the Evans family.

The entire membership of the New Creek Volunteer Fire Department are very proud of Caleb for finishing 16th in the nation. Caleb is an excellent example of the pride, dedication, and high standards that New Creek VFD holds for our membership.

The Mineral County Ambulance Authority held their bi-monthly meeting at the 911 center on Tuesday night. One of the main discussions of the night was the future of ambulance 38-70. For several meetings, the officers of New Creek had requested assistance with the purchase of another ambulance to replace the current aging and deteriorating unit. After some lengthy discussion, a motion was made to purchase a new unit, and to place the current 38-70 into reserve status when possible. The vote was 10-1 (1 abstained) in favor of purchasing the new unit. Members are to draw up specs and meet with at least 3 ambulance manufacturers at this time.

The newest addition to the New Creek fleet was delivered on Saturday. Tower 38 was brought home my members from the Sutphen Towers Plant after a few minor changes were made. There has been no set date for the apparatus to go in service at this time. Members have began placing equipment, and have also began some training for the new rig. An aerial operations class is set to begin with the next week or so.

The Sutphen Corporation chose to show Tower 38, along with a 100' platform, and an engine at the 2009 Harrisburg (Pa) Fire Expo this past weekend. The representatives from Sutphen advised the membership of New Creek that the apparatus received numerous compliments and was closely viewed by many people, including some from area departments. The Tower will be shown to a few more departments before being delivered to New Creek around the 29th of this month. An open house will be set up for the community to view not only the newest addition to the fleet, but also to give an opportunity to meet those who serve the New Creek Valley...and beyond. Keep checking back for more updates.

The membership of the New Creek Volunteer Fire Department are proud of the latest accomplishment of EMT- Billie Biddle. On May 16th Billie graduated the Allegany College of Maryland with her Associates of Science Degree in Nursing.

Billie and her husband Brett (firefighter/EMT) joined the ranks of New Creek volunteers around a year ago, and have been a great addition and asset to the department and community. Billie has also expressed interest in bridging over to the rank of Paramedic for the emergency field.

Congratulations on your accomplishments Billie!

The truck committee of the New Creek Volunteer Fire Department traveled to the Sutphen Towers Division in Ohio on Monday. Members were able to inspect and review the changes made to the 70' tower/ladder demo that the department agreed to purchase to replace the previously wrecked engine. The unit features a 1500 gpm Hale pump with a 500 gallon tank. With everything complete, the apparatus will be featured at the Harrisburg Fire Expo at the end of this week. After the show, the apparatus will be shown to a few other fire departments that had previously scheduled a demo with Sutphen. New Creek expects to take delivery at the end of May. Any questions or comments about the apparatus should be directed to the officers of the department.

The Elk District Volunteer Ambulance membership had planned on a Donkey basketball game as a fund raiser, but one question remained....who would they play against? After much thought, the challenge was set out to the New Creek Volunteer Fire Department. Members agreed and accepted to play our fellow colleagues on Saturday May the 9th. Elk District had the home court advantage, playing at the elementary school, but there was no shortage of support for the New Creek team. Members played (2) 15:00 minute halves. The game was very close through out the entire time, but in the end Elk District Ambulance edged the New Creek volunteers by 2 points to win the game. A great time was had by all!

The month of April was another busy month for the volunteers in New Creek. Members were one call shy of matching last months record for calls. 108 emergencies were answered. The calls were broke down as follows:

EMS & Rescue - 58 | Good Intent/Canceled en route - 25 | False Alarm/Call - 11 | Service Calls - 7 | Fires - 6 | Hazardous Conditions - 1

Of the 108 emergencies, New Creek was alerted 61 times to give mutual aid, and only received mutual aid 18 times (due to :1 medic request, 1 delayed ems response, 4 vehicle accidents where a squad was due, 4 canceled en routes due to no incident being found, and 8 due to dual alert areas where fire alarms were sounded). Out of the 61 incidents where mutual aid was given: 4 were for brush fires, 31 ems related, 3 accidents with injuries, 1 standby, 19 canceled en route, and 3 were false alarms or alarm related calls.

36 of the incidents occurred in 1 or 2 family dwellings, 16 on a divided highway, and 14 in multi-family dwellings. The most likely time of day for calls during April were 10 A.M. and 5 P.M., both having 8 calls during those hour blocks. The time with the highest average amount of firefighters was 8 P.M. with an average of 16 firefighters at that time.

The average response time for the month of April was 7.79 minutes. Response time begins with the initial dispatch of the department, and ends upon the arrival of the first arriving Fire or EMS apparatus from the department.

From April 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009 the department answered 927 incidents.