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By Rusty Marks
The Charleston Gazette

SMITHERS, W.Va. — Members of the Smithers Volunteer Fire Department have been taken out of service because of a dispute over insurance coverage.

"It's my understanding they lost their insurance," said Kanawha County Emergency Services Director Dale Petry.

Fire departments in nearby Montgomery and Boomer have agreed to take over calls for Smithers until the insurance problem is resolved. Petry said he believes the Smithers department lost insurance coverage over a billing dispute.

"They're getting it worked out, but as a precaution they're taking themselves out of service," Petry said.

It was not clear who insures the Smithers fire department. Smithers Fire Chief Timmy Whittington could not be reached immediately for comment Tuesday.

Though the community of Smithers is almost entirely within Fayette County, the fire department receives some funding from Kanawha County because Smithers firefighters sometimes assist neighboring departments in Kanawha County. The Smithers fire department recently received $10,000 from the Kanawha County Commission.

A few months ago, another volunteer fire department in eastern Kanawha County shut down briefly over an insurance dispute.

The Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department was closed for parts of Aug. 2 and 3 because of a dispute over workers' compensation premiums with BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co., which turned out to be the insurer's mistake. In that case, Glasgow residents were still protected under a mutual aid agreement with the neighboring town of Cedar Grove, emergency officials said at the time.

Copyright 2009 Charleston Newspapers