History of Huntington County Rescue
The Huntington County Rescue program is operated under the direction of the Huntington County Sheriff’s Department. Unlike most rescue squads that operate through fire departments, they are the only Sheriff’s department in the state of Indiana that operates such a unit. You might ask yourself how did this happen? Well, let us take you back to the year 1971. At that time, there was a deputy with the Huntington County Sheriff’s department by the name of LeMoine Drabenstot, who had been with the department for several years and later became the Sheriff of Huntington County. He had responded to numerous motor vehicle accidents and seen nearly every sort of crash possible, but he realized that many lives had been lost because Huntington County did not have a fast and safe way of extricating victims from vehicular crashes.
At the time, if someone were trapped inside a vehicle, the Sheriff’s department would contact the local wrecker services and dispatch them to the scene. The wrecker services would hook onto two points on the vehicle and yank and pull the car apart so medical personnel could get to the victims. However, Deputy Drabenstot seen this was not working; people were still dying that shouldn’t be. So Deputy Drabenstot took his idea to several people in the community. Those persons were Johnny Davis and Sonny West of the Southside Business Association, and Dick Richardson and Jim Wall who were good friends of Deputy Drabenstot. They began talking about forming a Rescue Squad with Deputy Drabenstot spearheading the effort.
Draby (as he was known by his friend’s) became a one-man-campaign. Since there was no funding available through local government, he went to several service organizations, commercial businesses, as well as the private sector of the county and started soliciting funds to purchase rescue tools and equipment. The Southside Business Association was a very strong organization and gave Deputy Drabenstot 100% backing in his efforts. The Southside Business Association donated a Dodge van to be used as the first rescue response vehicle. Drabby was able to get the van painted and lettered by Curly Pearson of Pearson’s Body Shop.
By late 1971, Deputy Drabenstot had obtained a grant from the Department of Traffic Safety & Vehicle Inspection in the amount of $1,000 dollars. These grants were a 70/30 split between the DTSVI and Huntington County Rescue. This money was used to purchase some of the very first tools for Huntington County Rescue. In early 1972, Deputy Drabenstot pondered how he would man the rescue squad and decided to use volunteers from the Huntington County Sheriff’s Reserve program. Again in 1973, he secured another grant from DTSVI for $3,000 dollars.
The Southside Business Association was good about supporting Huntington County Rescue and they received funding from that organization nearly every year. Another organization that supported the rescue program was the Altrusa Club. They supplied funds for squad members training and several pieces of equipment. In 1977, Huntington County Rescue received another grant from the DTSVI for $5,000 dollars; this was used to purchase the very first “Hurst” tool. Once the equipment was obtained, several volunteers helped Draby install it in the new rescue van.
Today, Huntington County Rescue has an arsenal of four rescue vehicles, and equipment valued over $600,000 dollars. They have grown from just vehicular extrication to everything imaginable. Rescuers are trained to perform high-angle rope rescues, useful in accidents involving grain bins or situations at facilities such as a water plant. They are also working to get equipment and certification in trench rescue and confined space rescue, anything to expand the parameters so they can better serve the community.
Huntington County Rescue currently has 22 rescuers involved with the program. Their professions range from Paramedic/EMT to Nurse, Firefighter, police officers, and business owners. Furthermore, nearly 95% of the rescuers have been or are being certified as First Responders.
Huntington County Rescue has a long and proud history in the community. They have provided a much needed service to the community and look forward to many years more.
