Published June 18 in the Daily Independent

EMT killed in line of duty
Firefighter killed responding to call

By KENNETH HART
The Daily Independent

GRAYSON - A Carter County emergency medical technician and firefighter was killed Monday while responding to a call during a rainstorm.

Randy G. Utley, 30, of Grayson, was pronounced dead at St. Mary's Medical Center at 7:40 p.m., about an hour and 20 minutes after the accident, Kentucky State Police at Ashland said.

The accident occurred on U.S. 60 at Radio Hill, about two miles west of Grayson, the KSP said.

Utley, a part-time EMT with Carter County Ambulance Service and a member of the Grayson Volunteer Fire Department, was traveling east with the emergency lights activated on his 1993 Ford Ranger pickup when the vehicle apparently hydroplaned, the KSP said.

The truck went off the left-hand shoulder of the road and struck a billboard support, according to the KSP. The impact was on the driver's side of the vehicle, police said.

Utley was apparently on his way to the firehouse to respond to a call the department had received to provide mutual aid to the Hitchins Volunteer Fire Department because of flooding in that area, Grayson Fire Chief Greg Felty said.

Utley had been a member of the department for about two years, Felty said. During that time, he became certified as both a firefighter and an EMT, he said.

"He was an outstanding guy," Felty said. "He was always willing to do whatever he had to do."

Utley was employed as an inspector and heating technician with the Northeast Kentucky Area Development Council in Olive Hill.

Felty said Utley's death was the first the department had experienced in the three years he had been chief. He said he and his men were coping about as well as could be expected.

He said Utley would be buried with full firefighter honors.

The accident remains under investigation by Trooper Shane Goodall.

Most of the flooding in Carter County Monday night was along Ky. 1 in the Hitchins area, according to a spokeswoman for the county's Emergency Management Agency. High water also was reported at Town Branch Apartments on Ky. 1.

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