Fires that shaped the department
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As Pikeville Volunteer Fire Department celebrates its 80 years of service, many historical highlights have made the department stronger over the years.
It all stared in early 1946 when fires destroyed several downtown buildings. Those events spurred a group of community leaders to start the department. By July 1946, the department had obtained firefighting equipment and 40 members were trained. They served not only city of Pikeville residents and businesses, but the entire county.
One of the worst fires the department faced was in the fall of 1971 when a gas leak at Bill and Jean’s Drive-In devastated the community. Eight people were seriously injured including the restaurant’s owner Bill White, his brother John E. White, off-duty police state trooper Kenneth Presley, firefighter Gerald Hale, Carl Reel, James Summers, Carl Watson, and Robert Patton. The men were entering the building for the monthly Bass Club meeting when a gas leak exploded, according to an article in The Bledsonian-Banner’s December 9, 1971 issue. It took firefighters three to four hours to bring the structure fire under control. It was a total loss.
The Deputy State Fire Marshal at the time determined a water line had been installed in the building over a gas line. The explosion was caused by a leakage from a severed service line that had been damaged by a water line connection placed across the gas service line approximately one month prior, stated the information in the newspaper article. Over time, the weight of the waterline settled on the gas service line causing a coupling joint to become unconnected. This caused a gas leak under the asphalt base of the parking area and came into the foundation of the restaurant.
The article stated the natural gas and oxygen reached a combustible level and was ignited when a switch was turned on in a rear room at the restaurant.
With each fire, the department continues to train and acquire the necessary equipment to meet the growing demands of fire protection for the community it serves.
