Small Town News

Firefighters are Special and Needed

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Where have all the good men and women gone?

The good folks are not really gone, it's just that they are of ten overlooked and most of the time, taken for granted.

Last Wednesday around midnight I was getting ready to call it a day and head for home when I received a strange call. It was from Meriwether County E911 Director Brin Jones.

He was calling from his cell phone and had little or no reception and there was no way we could communicate. Realizing that, Brin texted me and said an 85-year-old woman was missing in the northern portion of the county and a command center had been set up in the community.

Thankfully, people like Brin, EMS/EMA Director Thomas Chapman and Coroner and Fire Chief Johnny Worley usually give me a call if something is happening in the community that requires our attention.

Realizing something must be happening, I started turning my truck around before I received the first text from Brin.

About an hour later I arrived at the scene of the command center and was amazed by the number of people that were there.

Thomas told me that earlier during the search, at least 100 people were riding the roads, walking through the woods and doing all they could to locate the missing woman.

The search for the missing woman began around 7:30 p.m. and at 2 a.m. Chapman called the search to resume at 8:30 the next morning. Thank goodness, the woman was found the next morning, scraped up a little but not seriously injured.

WHAT WAS truly amazing, even after hours of searching on foot, when Chapman called the search not one person left. Everyone wanted to keep searching and did not want to give up.

Over the years, I covered many stories involving car accidents, home fires and other emergencies and will be the first to tell you, the good men and women are out there and often overlooked and taken for granted.

It takes a special person to volunteer to serve as a firefighter, and although hundreds of men and women do, they are often forgotten, that is until they are needed.

Firefighters don't just fight fires. They are on the scene for any emergency. They are trained to save lives and are dedicated to doing so.

Once, when writing a story about firefighters, an individual asked me if I thought firefighters volunteered because they "got a rush from being involved in such things as fires and car accidents."

"Probably not, "I replied. "They are most likely too busy thinking about how to save a person's lif e or home and worrying about the family they left behind."

FIREFIGHTERS play such a valuable role in our community and are trained for so many emergencies from fighting fires, to CPR, to search and rescue.

It takes a great deal of dedication to be away from the family attending classes, spending hours at meetings and training sessions. It takes a great deal of caring to put your life on the line to save the life of someone you have never met and know nothing about.

Rural communities do not have the luxury, like metro cities, to have paid fire departments. In the rural community firemen are simply neighbors helping neighbors and do it because they care, not because they are paid to do so.

Volunteers are always needed in every fire department in every community.

As said previously, it takes a special person to be a firefighter. Being on call every minute, waking up in the middle of the night to clear roads after bad weather, to see someone you know injured or killed inacar accident, to fight to save a neighbor's home and belongings. But, it does have its rewards.

There is no money, there are few pats on the backs or words of thanks and encouragement, but knowing that you have helped someone and working to make a difference in the community is it's own reward in a small way.

I encourage every man and woman that can, to at least consider volunteering. It does take a special person and not everyone can do it, but those that can make a difference in our community and are needed.

I also encourage everyone, when you see a man or woman who does volunteer, to tell him or her how much you appreciate the difference they make in our community.



Copyright 2010 The Meriwether Vindicator, Greenville, Georgia. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 The Meriwether Vindicator Greenville, Georgia. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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