08/28/2026
Hey everyone, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about something that was on the agenda at this past Tuesday’s Fairmont City Council meeting and share the perspective I bring to it.
Council heard the first reading of a proposed ordinance regarding a 30-foot safety area around first responders while they are lawfully performing their duties. The language comes from West Virginia Code §61-5-31, and I support it.
For anyone who may not know my background, I have been a first responder for 21 years. I joined Marion County Rescue Squad as a volunteer in 2005 and became paid staff in 2006, and I am still serving with MCRS today. EMS has been my career, and that experience has given me a very real understanding of how quickly emergency scenes can change and how important it is for responders to have room to safely do their jobs.
Some of the calls we respond to are scary. I have had a gun pointed at me while doing this job. I have been physically pushed on scenes. I have been in situations where a call that seemed routine changed in seconds, and I was scared not only for my own safety, but for the safety of the person standing beside me.
Those experiences are part of the perspective I bring to this discussion.
I know there have been concerns raised about the First Amendment, recording first responders, and whether this creates a blanket 30-foot rule.
Simply being within 30 feet is not, by itself, a violation.
A first responder has to be lawfully performing an official duty. A person must first receive a verbal warning not to approach. They then have to knowingly and willfully ignore that warning while interfering with the responder’s ability to perform their duties, or threatening or menacing them with physical harm.
That distinction is important.
Someone standing nearby watching, recording, speaking, protesting, or disagreeing with a first responder is very different from someone entering an active working area and interfering with an emergency response.
From the EMS side, there are times when we are trying to treat a critically ill patient, protect their privacy, manage someone who is confused or in crisis, or provide lifesaving care. Firefighters may be working around fire, smoke, unstable structures, extrication equipment, or hazards that are not obvious to someone nearby. Law enforcement may be securing a dangerous scene, preserving evidence, directing traffic, or dealing with an active threat.
Many times, all three services are working together on the same scene.
Think about a serious vehicle crash. Firefighters may be trying to free someone from a damaged vehicle, EMS may be providing lifesaving treatment, and law enforcement may be trying to control traffic and keep the scene safe. If someone repeatedly enters that working area after being warned to stay back, responders now have to divide their attention between the emergency and that individual for safety.
That can make an already dangerous situation even more dangerous.
This ordinance does not take away someone’s right to observe, record, speak, protest, peacefully assemble, or hold first responders accountable.
This is not about stopping someone from watching or filming first responders. It is about allowing first responders to safely do the job they were called to do without interference or threats after a warning has already been given.
After 21 years in EMS, I know how quickly a routine call can become dangerous. Behind every uniform is a person with a family who wants them to come home safely when the call is over.
I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister and aunt. When I go to work, I want to help someone else’s family and still make it home safely to mine.
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