On July 28-31^st, the “Wild and Wonderful Mountainfest Motorcycle Rally” returned to Morgantown’s Mylan Park for 4 days of displays, vendors, stunt shows, parades, parties and concerts.  In addition to their normal responsibilities to their response area, our friends at Star City Volunteer Fire Department were responsible for all on-site fire and EMS response for the four day long event.

Wednesday July 27th, MARG deployed our new mobile command vehicle SAR1, also known as “Large MARG(e)” to assist with emergency communications for the event.  One of MARG’s portable radio caches was utilized to issue radios to all Star City personnel at the event, with radios also being given to the state police commander and CSC Security command.  Using MARG’s field radios, those on site were able to effectively communicate without tying up the county’s emergency services frequencies.

Throughout the weekend, MARG members assisted Star City VFD by providing additional manpower for roving fire and EMS crews and helping to man two on-site first-aid stations.

Thankfully, despite the tens of thousands of participants that occupied Mylan Park over the course of the event, crews dealt with only a handful of emergencies, and those that did happen were taken care of smoothly and efficiently, thanks largely to the thorough planning of Star City VFD’s officers.

From time to time, MARG is called upon to assist local emergency services agencies in large events such as MountainFest or major incidents such as natural disasters.  The diverse skillsets of MARG members ensure that we can be of use at more than just missing person searches, and we are glad to help agencies like SCVFD when needed.

To see additional pictures from the 2011 MountainFest, click here.