BULLITT COUNTY, Ky. — After firefighters in Bullitt County lost two of their own to COVID-19, their families were not eligible to get line-of-duty death benefits, said Chief Kevin Moulton with the Zoneton Fire Protection District.
A Kentucky lawmaker has filed a bill that could change that for first responders.
It’s been nine months since the department lost Chief Rob Orkies, after he became sick with COVID-19.
The same disease killed Battalion Major and Acting Chief Garry Key, just two months after that.
A display case inside the fire department shows their fire gear and helmets, and their photos hang on the wall.
Stickers with their names are on the firefighters' helmets and the fire trucks.
“Every time we’re going out on that run, they’re with us," said Moulton. "They’re watching over us.”
To Moulton, they were his brothers.
"If you had the chance of knowing them or hearing their stories, you’re lucky," said Moulton. "They were just two great men, community-oriented people. They’ll take their shirts off their backs for you."
After their deaths, Moulton said he learned their families wouldn’t be eligible to receive the $80,000 in line of duty death benefits because COVID-19 wasn’t included in the state law.
"It’s not right for our state not to have their backs," said Moulton.
He wasn’t going to take 'no' for an answer, and contacted officials in Kentucky, including Rep. Thomas Huff (R, Shepherdsville), he said.
"I was stunned," said Huff. "But of course, COVID-19 dealing with that is kind of a new thing. It hasn’t been around that long, so it’s kind of an oversight, I think, on the part of the law that we didn’t know about it at the time."
This week, Huff filed a bill that would add that “a first responder who dies as a result of COVID-19 or complications … is presumed to have died as a direct result of an act in the line of duty” if the person was diagnosed within 14 days of "engaging in any such act."
"We depend on our first responders to take care of us in a time of emergency and I think it was a shame to leave their families out when they need it the most," said Huff.
Moulton has since heard from people around the state who didn’t know about the issue, he said.
"I feel the support’s out there and I think this will go through," said Moulton. "I’d hate to see the state turns their backs on the people that put their lives in danger."
The bill, which also includes police, EMS and other first responders, would retroactively apply to any act in the line of duty since March 6, 2020.
If passed, it would go into effect as soon as it's signed into law.
Huff is also the co-sponsor of a bill that would make it unlawful for an employer "to require as a condition of employment that any employee or applicant for employment submit to immunization or disclose his or her immunization status."
The lawmaker previously spent eight days in the ICU with COVID-19 and lost his father after he became sick with pneumonia and COVID-19, he said.
Asked if he supports people getting vaccinated, Huff said, "Absolutely, if they want to. I do not support forced vaccinations."