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City's emergency response team honored

September 11, 2007

The city of Winchester has been awarded the 2007 Spirit of Kentucky Award for coordinating government resources with other communities in the Bluegrass Emergency Response Team (BERT) project.

The project was a collaborative effort with nine counties, nine municipalities and one combined government in the Bluegrass Area Development District.

Officials presented the award during the 32nd annual Governor's Local Issues Conference at the Galt House East in Louisville.

"The Bluegrass Emergency Response Team is a unique group of emergency responders who have pooled resources from eleven counties to become a major emergency response asset for the Bluegrass region," said Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

"The cooperation between those counties has enabled BERT to become a valuable resource in times where large-scale emergency response is required. This is a shining example of counties working together to combine resources to serve large areas," he said.

By regionally combining resources, BERT was able to create a multi-million dollar entity with little or no cost to individual county and city governments, according to the Governor's Office For Local Development.

BERT has combined grant monies available in the participating counties to create a regional emergency response unit capable of responding to hazardous material spills, heavy rescue situations (including structural collapse, confined space and swift water), and mass casualty incidents.

Winchester Fire-EMS is one of two hazardous materials hubs for BERT.

The Clark County Fire Department also participates with the program, along with the communities of Bourbon County, Berea, Lancaster, Nicholasville, Paris, Richmond, Stanton, Versailles, Clark County, Estill County, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Garrard County, Harrison County, Jessamine County, Madison County, Nicholas County, Powell County and Woodford County.

In choosing the award recipient, officials said they look for several criteria, including demonstration of interlocal cooperation and opportunity for fiscal efficiency, creativity and innovation, participation, effort and interest; equitable, representative and cooperative funding participation, and the savings, benefit and value derived for government units.

The Spirit of Kentucky Award is given annually at the Governor's Local Issues Conference.

The Governor's Local Issues Conference is made possible through the Kentucky Local Issues Board, a non-profit organization comprised of members from the Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo), the Kentucky Council of Area Development Districts (KCADD), the Kentucky Judge/Executives Association (KCJEA), the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) and the Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioners Association (KMCA).Â

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