Author: Dave Mistich

Change your clocks, change your batteries

From the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety:

Last year, West Virginia’s fire departments responded to over 8,500 fires. Over 4,000 of these fires occurred in residences, where most fire deaths take place.
 

“Every year we see the same scenario: the weather gets colder, people are indoors more, and a fire breaks out. If the home has no working smoke alarms, families won’t get the early warning they need to safely escape the fire—and we’ll be investigating more fire deaths that shouldn’t have happened,” said Anthony Carrico, Acting West Virginia State Fire Marshal. “Fires spread so much more quickly than people realize. A working smoke alarm sounding off can literally mean the difference between surviving a fire or becoming a victim.”
 
Smoke alarms have a wide range of user-friendly options, including hush buttons for nuisance alarms, long-life batteries, and various types of notification sounds. As long as the smoke alarms have the UL® seal (Underwriters Laboratories) to show they have met recognized safety standards, and are installed and maintained according to manufacturers’ directions, they will provide advance warning in case of fire.
 
Remember these tips about smoke alarms:

·         Have smoke alarms on every level of your home, especially outside sleeping areas – and preferably inside bedrooms as well.

·         Test them at least once a month, and replace batteries at least once a year – use a birthday or anniversary as a reminder, or when you set your clocks for Daylight Savings Time.

·         Replace all detectors after 10 years.

·         Place smoke alarms according to manufacturer’s directions.

·         Clean the outside ONLY of a smoke alarm by gently going over the cover with the brush attachment of your vacuum cleaner.  Never paint a smoke alarm.

·         Whenever a smoke alarm beeps, take it seriously. It might just be a false alarm from cooking, temperature changes, or dust—but you can’t afford to ignore the alert. Everyone in the family needs to react immediately.

·         Develop and practice a home escape plan. Make sure your family knows two ways out of each room, a safe meeting place outside, how to call 9-1-1 once they’re out, and why they should NEVER go back into a burning house.

·         West Virginia State Code requires all property owners to provide and install a working smoke alarm in the vicinity of the sleeping areas.

 
For more information on smoke alarms and home fire safety, visit these websites:

 http://www.energizer.com/learning-center/Pages/change-a-battery-save-a-life.aspx
 http://www.nfpa.org
 http://www.usfa.fema.gov
 
 
 
 

West Virginia Morning – November 1, 2013

One in five West Virginians are seeing a reduction in food assistance, Downstream Strategies takes a critical look at the water-use data provided by natural gas drillers in the past couple years to the state Department of Environmental Protection, and Huntington Prep’s basketball team enters their season with high expectations.

Trailer: Two Dollar Radio's 'The Greenbrier Ghost'

The company that published Crapalachia by West Virginia writer Scott McClanahan is venturing into film and one of their first projects will be based on the legend of a Greenbrier County woman murdered in 1897.

Zona Heaster Shue was declared as murdered  after the court heard testimony from the victim’s mother, who  argued that her daughter’s spirit appeared to tell the truth behind her death. Shue’s Husband, Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue (also known as Edward) was convicted of murder and sentenced to the West Virginia State Penitentary in Moundsville. Edward died March 13, 1900 of an unknown epidemic at the prison.

The state  erected a state historical marker near the cemetery in which Zona Shue is buried. It reads:

Interred in nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shue. Her death in 1897 was presumed natural until her spirit appeared to her mother to describe how she was killed by her husband Edward. Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparition’s account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to the state prison. Only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer.    

Co-produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s very own Chris Oxley, The Greenbrier Ghost was heavily mentioned by McClanahan in his memoir based on growing up in southern West Virginia, Crapalachia.

Here’s the trailer from McClanahan and Oxley:

Pipeline safety funding announced

Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, along with Senator Joe Manchin and Congressman Nick Rahall, today announced more than $697,000 in federal funding for pipeline safety efforts in West Virginia.  
 
“West Virginia’s booming natural gas industry relies heavily on pipelines, which means they must be safe, reliable and durable. As Commerce Committee Chairman, I’ve worked hard to make sure there is oversight of our pipeline operations to prevent accidents that could harm both our communities and our economy,” said Rockefeller.

“The importance of establishing the strongest possible safeguards against future pipeline explosions was never more apparent than after the devastating explosion in Sissonville last December. This funding is an important investment in our work to make pipelines as safe and secure as possible.”
 
“In West Virginia, investing in natural gas is important for job creation and economic growth, but the bottom line is that we need to make sure drilling is done safely,” Manchin said. 

“We are fortunate that no one was seriously injured last year when a gas pipeline ruptured in Sissonville. This incident proved that we constantly need to be prepared and safety should always be our top priority. This funding will help ensure the pipelines are being operated safely, maintained properly and inspected regularly so that incidents like the rupture last December don’t happen again.”
 
“It would be pennywise but pound foolish not to invest in pipeline safety,” said Rahall, top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with jurisdiction over PHMSA. 

“Our State just witnessed the consequences of pipeline failure and a strong federal partnership is a good insurance policy against future failures.  Constant maintenance and consistent inspections are key ingredients in keeping our families, businesses and industries, our infrastructure and communities safe.”  
 
The funding comes from the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and was awarded to two agencies in West Virginia in the following amounts:
 

  • $496,943 – West Virginia Public Service Commission – The Commission received this funding through PHMSA’s fiscal year 2013 Pipeline Safety Base Grant program as a reimbursement to help alleviate the cost of the State’s pipeline safety programs.
  • $200,717 – West Virginia Emergency Response Commission – The Commission received this funding through PHMSA’s Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant Program, which gives States assistance in performing hazardous materials response duties.

As Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Senator Rockefeller is in charge of Congressional oversight of pipeline safety. Rockefeller authored legislation that was signed into law in 2011 to strengthen pipeline safety. He also held a field hearing on pipeline safety in Charleston earlier this year in response to the pipeline explosion in Sissonville, West Virginia on December 11, 2012.  The Commerce Committee has held four hearings on pipeline safety in the past three years.

State Film Office offers new functionality to locations database

The West Virginia Film Office is always looking for the next great location for a film or television shoot. If you own a home, business, or property that you would like the film and television industry to consider featuring in a potential production, you can now post your information to the film office’s online locations library.

“In addition to tax incentives, one of the most effective tools utilized by the film office to recruit the film industry to the state is its online locations database,” said Pam Haynes, director of the West Virginia Film Office.

The database features the state’s communities, landmarks, diverse architectural structures, topography, and much more.

“This is a very competitive business, and the availability of online information about various locations is an essential resource for film industry personnel to quickly search for the next perfect location for filming,” said Haynes.

Jamie Cope, location services coordinator for the film office, stated that the current database has nearly 46,000 images comprising more than 4,300 locations. With this new functionality, property owners will be able to submit their own photos for inclusion in the library at no cost.

“We hope that this new feature will increase the number of private homes and businesses represented in the library,” said Cope. “It is our focus to offer the industry the widest array of locations available from which to choose, and this new submission engine will help us reach that goal,” he added.

“Film office staff frequently receives requests for certain physical looks in homes for shooting, but it is challenging to reach out to hundreds of homeowners statewide when turnaround time is critical,” Cope said.

He explained that some requests are very specific, such as the search for a white, split-entry home with blue shutters in a cul-de-sac.

“The more locations represented in the database, the better the state’s chances are of attracting more production business,” said Cope.

“To assist in this new effort, the film office has prepared and posted photography tips to review before submitting images for consideration,” Cope added. “And the person submitting the photos must be the owner of the property.”

Cope said that the owner’s contact information will remain hidden from the public search engine.

“If a producer is interested in a property, they will contact the film office, which will subsequently contact the owner to gauge interest.  It is always up to the owners to decide on a case-by-case basis whether they wish to approve filming on their properties.”

To submit a property for consideration, visit www.wvfilm.com/locations, click on the button to “Submit Locations,” and follow the simple directions.

The film office has prepared “Tips for Photographing Your Property,” which can be viewed under the same link. All questions may be directed to Jamie Cope at 304-957-9324 or by email at james.b.cope@wv.gov.

The West Virginia Film Office is a section of the West Virginia Division of Tourism, under the West Virginia Department of Commerce. Visit the film office at www.wvfilm.com

One dead, three injured in house explosion in Brooke Co.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Brooke County Sheriff Chuck Jackson said one person is dead after an early morning house explosion in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle.

Update: Friday, October 11, 2013 at 1:50 p.m.

Brooke County Emergency Management Director Bob Folwer said 911 dispatch received a call about the smell of natural gas from a neighboring home and the fire department responded to a house that wasn’t the one that exploded. He said the fire truck was leaving the scene when the explosion happened.

“It was a pretty extensive explosion. I live in West Liberty, which is probably–in air miles–10 or 12 miles away. Actually, the explosion was loud enough I could hear it in  West Liberty,” said Folwer.  “All of the homes in the area have extensive damage. Some of them have structural damage and, in a lot of homes, the windows were blown out. One of the fire stations is only a short distance from there and there was some damage to that fire station.”

Deputy Emergency Management Director Marlene Whitco said at least 20 homes in the area were impacted by the blast.

The West Virginia State Fire Marshal and the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department are conducting a joint investigation of the incident.

Update: Friday, October 11, 2013 at 11:50 a.m.

Jackson told WTOV that three others have been injured.
 
No names were immediately released.

Original story posted Friday, October 11, 2013 at 9:40 a.m.

It happened Friday morning in Follansbee’s Hooverson Heights neighborhood.

Whitco said she’s unsure about the nature of the explosion, but she says residents are not being evacuated.

Authorities had no further details.

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