KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. –A couple from Kanawha County are on a journey to help preserve fire and EMS history throughout West Virginia.
Dylan Hackworth and his fiancée, Tamaria Cooper, said on 580 Live with Dave Allen that their quest began in January after a firefighter at an event told them their efforts needed to be separated from what they were doing previously.
This prompted them to create Hackworth Fire Collection LLC, which allows them to share photos collected from various fire stations across West Virginia.
Hackworth said that since January, they have visited 30 of the 433 fire departments in West Virginia.
He said their mission to preserve these photos is for those who may not have received the recognition they deserved.
“What about the little man who even only spent two years on a fire department, maybe just ran two fires or two wrecks but to a civilian that was there worst day, they need to get that credit, and their stories deserved to be told,” Hackworth said.
He said they also hope to one day establish a fire museum, similar to those in other states, to help ensure the photographs are preserved.
They said they have photos that date back all the way to 1901.
Both Hackworth and Cooper pursue this work while also serving as full-time EMTs with the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority.
Hackworth said that when they post photos on their Facebook page, people sometimes tell them it is the first time they have seen a picture of a loved one in a firefighter uniform.
He also shared a recent story from when they visited a fire department in Barboursville.
“We were actually contacted when we did Barboursville, a gentlemen commented on one of the photos and said, I’m perfectly fine with the watermark but could you move it, he goes that is the only picture I have of me and my father, is him as fireman, so I sent him the picture without the watermark completely because that’s the right thing to do,” Hackworth said.
Hackworth said another gentleman reached out to them after they posted a photo of the man’s father as a firefighter.
Hackworth said they are doing things that should have already been done.
“We’re really shining a spotlight on things that should have been shined on a long time ago,” he said.
Another effort by Hackworth and Cooper is documenting how fire departments currently look to highlight the surrounding community and preserve its history.
“In the Northern Panhandle, you have steel, so we wanted to use the steel yards, you know how that influence the firefighting here or the EMS,” Hackworth said. “With Richwood, you have the sawmills, it’s called Richwood for a reason, and we’re like let’s incorporate the community into this.”
He said their goal is to eventually visit all 433 fire departments in West Virginia.