By Mallory Panuska
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT —
A statewide insurance issue threatening the continuing operation of the county’s 13 volunteer fire departments has been handed a temporary solution that will allow them to remain open until state legislators can execute a permanent fix.
Tuesday, Gov. Joe Manchin announced in a press release that the state’s Board of Risk and Insurance Management (BRIM) has stepped up to provide all West Virginia volunteer fire departments (VFDs) with “broad form” liability coverage from Sept. 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.
BRIM is a five-member, governor-appointed board tasked to provide casualty insurance coverage to all state agencies. The board put the VFDs under its wing of coverage for this time period in an effort to give lawmakers time to come up with a long-term solution to the insurance issue plaguing these volunteers, the release said.
“That’s a good thing,” Marion County Fire Association President Barry Bledsoe said of this news Tuesday. “That gives us just under a year to try to work out the issue permanently.”
