Somerset Fire, Gas departments get shout-out at City Council

Jul. 23—Some of the employees of two of Somerset's response departments — the Somerset Fire Department and the Natural Gas Department — received some praise for their action helping two non-profit organizations over the past couple of weeks.

Melissa Estep, the program director for SKYHope Recovery Center, and Brenda Russell, the executive director for God's Food Pantry, took the microphone during Somerset City Council's most recent meeting to thank city employees for their assistance.

More specifically, Estep thanked members of SFD and the Gas Department for helping SKYHope after a grease fire broke out in their kitchen.

Then Russell told the council how those manning the SFD's Central Avenue firehouse helped God's Food Pantry after the building suffered a propane leak.

After the meeting, Estep explained to the Commonwealth Journal that a "little grease fire" broke out in their kitchen a couple of weekends ago.

While there was no major damage and no injuries, Estep praised the quick action and help from both the responding firefighters and the Gas Department, specifically gas employee Donald Hembree.

After the fire department responded to the fire, Estep said Hembree came out to cut off the kitchen's gas until an inspection can be done to make sure there is nothing that needs to be repaired.

"The gas company was super nice about educating us (on) safety, making sure we understood not to turn the gas back on," she said.

She explained that much of their kitchen equipment runs on gas, and therefore the recovery center had to make modifications to make sure the women who reside there had their meals on time.

Estep said the center received several donations, including gifts of milk and bread from Community in Christ.

"All the meals were still served," she said. "We have a pellet grill, and Somerset Hardwood donated the pellets so we could use the grill to cook on."

As a side note, Somerset Hardwood itself recently relied on help from SFD and other area fire departments, after a secondary building that stores sawdust caught fire.

SFD reported on their Facebook page that they, the Science Hill Fire Department, Ferguson Fire Department, Eubank Fire Department, Somerset-Pulaski Rescue Squad and Somerset-Pulaski EMS responded last Friday around 5:15 p.m. to the fire. Units were on scene until around 9:30 p.m.

At Monday's council meeting, Estep told Mayor Alan Keck that she wanted to show her thanks to those who showed up to the kitchen emergency.

Keck responded by saying, "We're blessed with a great team, and I'm glad they were accommodating and took care of you."

Russell then stood at the microphone and told her own story of needing assistance from SFD. In her case, raising the alarm was a matter of walking a few yards and knocking on the door of the Central Avenue firehouse, as it is right next door to God's Food Pantry.

Russell said that on the morning in question, she had just entered the God's Food Pantry building. "(I) opened the door, and the smell hit me, and I knew immediately it was propane," she said.

She said a leaking propane tank had been left unattended over night, causing the warehouse side of the building to fill up with fumes.

She walked next door to the firehouse, she said, and "Those guys were on top of it. They were in our building in a heartbeat with their little monitors, walking through.

"And I'm going to tell you, being right next door to the fire station here downtown, those guys and girls have be out on runs more times in the last week than you can possibly imagine," she added. "Every time I look up, they're either going out or coming in."

Also at Monday's meeting, council members: — Approved two resolutions that authorize the city to apply for grants on behalf of God's Food Pantry. The first was for a grant from the Kentucky Department for Local Government's Community Development Block Grant program, while the second was for the Government Resources Accelerating Needed Transformation program. Russell told council members that the money would be used to help move the pantry to its future location, the OakPoine Centre, which is currently under renovations. — Approved an ordinance allowing the City of Somerset to apply for a Kentucky Infrastructure Authority loan to help pay for replacing a water filter membrane for the city's wastewater plant. The loan would be for up to $2.5 million. — Heard the first readings for two annexation requests. The first was for property located at 3765 S. U.S. 27. The property would be zoned B-2 (Business) as an office building is on the property. The second property is located at the corner of U.S. 27 and Stonegate Drive. That property, if approved, would enter into the city zoned as R-1 (Residential), which is the default designation for lots that do not already have a building on them that would require a separate designation. Once annexed, the owner can request to change the zoning designation. Both annexation requests require 45 days between the first and second readings.

Carla Slavey can be reached at cslavey@somerset-kentucky.com