Berkeley Co. Powerball winner buys Ford F-350s for six fire departments

Berkeley County's multimillionaire is at it again.

On Thursday, W. Randy Smith gave away a lot more of his money, this time a little more than $1 million.


Six Berkeley County fire departments each got a Ford F-350, four-wheel-drive, four-door pickup truck equipped with snow plows and walk-behind snowblowers.

 The idea of such specially equipped vehicles is to plow a path for following ambulances and emergency vehicles to ensure that they can get to a victim's home, Smith said. Emergency crews can use the snowblowers to clear a path to the door.

"I remember last year's blizzards. I was stuck at home like everybody else, and I had my scanner on. Emergency crews were not able to get through the snow," he said.

He remembers thinking during the storm that if he ever won the lottery he'd buy the county's fire departments vehicles that could plow through heavy snow.

Fifteen months later, Smith made good on his fantasy after winning $79 million on Aug. 23 in the Powerball lottery and ending up with $44 million before taxes by accepting a lump-sum payment.

The six trucks, costing a total of $240,000, were delivered by Smith in a ceremony on a Raleigh Street parking lot Thursday afternoon. All came fully equipped, down to the color scheme and lettering of the individual departments.

Ed Gochenour, deputy director of Berkeley County's Emergency Management, showed off his company's new truck. It will replace an aging 1986 unit in Co. 90.

The new trucks will assist the fire companies' mainline vehicles or function as a substitute for larger fire engines when a smaller truck will suffice for a call, such as in the cleanup of an fuel spill, Gochenour said.

One department plans to use its new truck for brush fires, he said.

Smith's largess also included new four-wheel-drive ambulances for the Hedgesville and Baker Heights fire departments for a combined cost of $280,000.

He also announced Thursday the $220,000 purchase of an armored personnel carrier for the SWAT teams to rescue victims in hostage situations or in a firing zone.

"It's a military-based vehicle capable of surviving a 50-caliber round," Smith said.

Although based in Berkeley County, the unit can be used anywhere in the state. It's the only one in West Virginia, he said.

Also thanks to Smith, a $150,000 mobile forensic law-enforcement unit to preserve and transport crime scene evidence is now in the hands of the West Virginia State Police in Martinsburg and will be available for detachments in nine eastern counties.

In addition, the Martinsburg City Police Department is getting a live-scan fingerprinting system and improvements to its firing range for a total gift of $100,000.

"I wish we had some of these things when I was in the sheriff's department," Smith said.



Life in the rich lane