The Shepherdstown Fire Department will once again act as first responders in cooperation with the Bakerton Fire Department following the release of a public safety message June 13.

The message stated that the response assignments for a portion of the Bakerton Fire Department’s response district were changed to exclude a fire response from the Shepherdstown Fire Department.

Though assignments were temporarily changed back to include the Shepherdstown department, in the message released after a vote by its members, the department said it was “dismayed to learn that there is a continued effort to have Shepherdstown removed from the initial fire dispatch to those areas for serious fires.”

Areas impacted would have included sections of River Road, Molers Cross Roads, Engle Moler Road, Bakerton Road, the Uvilla area and other areas near Bakerton.

According to Craig Simpson, assistant fire chief at the Shepherdstown Fire Department, leadership from both the Shepherdstown and Bakerton fire departments met to resolve the situation shortly after the release of the message.

Simpson said that the Shepherdstown Fire Department is now once again providing initial support to the Bakerton area and “assisting any way we can.”