Beech Tree News Network

When tragedy strikes, members of the Butler County Rescue Squad (BCRS) are among the first on the scene.  Chief Brandon Keown, Assistant Chief Steven Johnson, and over twenty-five volunteers are 100 percent volunteers.  They go through hundreds of hours of training to help the community and surrounding communities when they are called to a scene.

Just a few of the emergencies they have responded to are extrication from vehicles, water rescue from vehicles swept off flooded roads, a boat sinking in the Green River, individuals trapped in a house fire or one lost in the woods.

Like any organization, funds are needed to assist with squad functions.  

There are many ways to help. Six months ago, the BCRS started an on-line yard sale on a Facebook page - Butler County Rescue Squad Yard Sale. Donations are gladly accepted, and several times some of these donations go to families that have suffered a house fire. They raise money from the Annual Car Show on Courthouse Square. Once a year, Walkin's Photography from London, Kentucky, goes door to door, and for a twenty-dollar donation, which goes to the Rescue Squad, the family gets an 8×10 family portrait.

Presently, they are working with Butler County Fiscal Court to buy a used four-wheel drive one-ton truck to use as their extrication vehicle. The truck being used now is twenty-five years old and will be reassigned for land rescues. 

The state of Kentucky wants each Rescue Squad to have a vehicle for each area in which they are certified.  For the BCRS, that includes extraction, land rescue, water search-recovery, and swift-water search. They also have a 20-foot aluminum boat with a 50-horsepower engine, plus three smaller boats and two inflatables for getting into shallow areas.

During the Catfish Festival, squad members patrol the river during the fishing tournament, and they are on the river for the Green River Ramble in June. Last year, they spent two weekends installing mile markers on all sixty miles of the Green River that runs through Butler County from Woodbury to Rochester.  This helped the city of Morgantown achieve Trail Town Status with the state.

Brandon Keown has been the chief for six years.  He became a volunteer when he was a junior at Butler County High School in 2000. Brandon and his wife Dawn live in Morgantown and are raising two sons - Isaac, 13, and Wrangler, 10. Dawn came up with the idea of the yard sales, which have helped the squad raise money.

Steven Johnson, Assistant Chief, has been volunteering for over ten years, and his fiancé, Eshea White, is the secretary.