Helping Those Who Serve

It’s 2 a.m. when the peaceful silence in a local home is broken by the sound of an emergency pager going off. A man pulls himself from his slumber and quickly heads off to help someone he may not even know, while his wife remains behind to wonder what danger might await him.

This is the life of a volunteer fireman and his family – answering calls for help at all hours and facing unknown peril in the process. But they do it week in and week out as a way to serve their community and lend a hand to their fellow man.

They ask for nothing in return, but this month the community has an opportunity to express its appreciation to the members of the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department at a fundraising dinner on August 27. The event, being organized by the Clarendon Firebelles, follows a February incident in which four firemen were very nearly injured while working an accident and one fire truck was totaled by a careless motorist.

Felicia Powell said she and other Firebelles are organizing the benefit dinner to recognize the firemen’s contributions to the community and to help raise funds for much needed equipment. For Felicia, supporting the fire department is nothing new. Her husband, Jeremy, has been a Clarendon fireman for 16 years.

“I’m very proud of him, and it’s something he loves,” Powell said. “I want people to realize that it is so important what our volunteer firemen do. They put their lives on the line every day for Clarendon and Donley County, and they are really just a bunch of great guys.”

Felicia’s role, like those of other firemen’s wives, is not an easy one, and she admits to worrying when the emergency calls come in, especially late at night.
“I wonder if he’s going to be okay, and I toss and turn worrying after he leaves,” she said. “I just make sure I wake up and tell him I love him and to be careful because I don’t want to not have said that in case he doesn’t come home.”

For his part, Jeremy Powell says he and his fellow firemen are on the fire department because it has to be done.

“We do it to fill a need for the community,” he said. “We do get something out of it… the satisfaction of a job well done. That’s something I enjoy and will continue to do as long as I can tell I’m making a difference.”

Jeremy, who is the First Assistant Chief of the Clarendon department, said many people have a misconception that volunteer firemen are there for a joyride or a thrill.

“Most of the stuff we do isn’t fun at all,” Jeremy
said. “When it’s 115° and you have to go battle a wildfire, that’s not fun. When you have to go out in the freezing cold, that’s not fun. When you have to wake up at 2 a.m. and then go to work all day, that’s not much fun.”

And then there is all the work that must be done outside of responding to calls. Jeremy said he tells all prospective volunteers that for every one hour they are responding to a call, there is two hours of work to be done at the fire station.

“We have guys who spend a lot of time on their own doing maintenance on the trucks, for example,” he said. “We try to do all the maintenance that is possible ourselves, so we don’t have to pay someone else to do it.”

And, of course, there is the danger that comes with the job. Responding to fires presents obvious hazards, but firemen also have to watch out not to get run over when responding to an accident. Which is what nearly happened in February.

The department responded to a two-vehicle accident west of Clarendon, and Powell and others were busy helping extricate the driver of a mini-van. Eastbound traffic on US 287 was reduced to one lane, and that lane had been stopped completely to get a wrecker into the scene of the accident.

Then an elderly driver came barreling down the closed lane, narrowly missing firemen Michael Newhouse, Jackie Bell, Chris Wilson, and Chuck Robertson all of whom managed to get out of the way before the man crashed into a 1998 model quick attack fire truck.

“We set that truck there for that purpose,” Jeremy said. “We try to set something like that up for that very reason – so that someone runs into a truck instead of running into where we are working. There is a lot of traffic on 287; and if you try to shut it down, it can be pretty hairy quickly.”

Because it was well cared for the truck probably would have lasted the department another 20 years, Jeremy said. But the accident totaled the vehicle, and it was not insured for replacement cost. Insurance paid about $20,000, but a new truck is likely to cost between $75,000 and $80,000.

A portion of the funds raised at the benefit dinner will go toward replacing the damaged truck, and other funds will go to help meet other expenses.

Jeremy said the city and county together provide more than $40,000 in funding for the department, but that is not enough to pay for everything. Fortunately, the department usually receives between $15,000 and $20,000 a year in donations. But this year has been harder than most.

“Last year was slow, but this year we’ve spent a lot,” he said. “The cost of diesel hurts us, too.”

Jeremy said the department is very grateful for the Firebelles and their efforts.

“They assist us when we’re on a call, they bring us food and water, and they work with EMS to help get us cooled off during these wildfires on hot days,” Jeremy said. “They do a good job, and we are grateful to them.”

The firemen’s benefit dinner will be held on August 27 at 6 p.m. in the Donley County Activity Center. The brisket dinner will be $20 per plate, and tickets must be purchased in advance by August 13. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

To purchase tickets or make a donation, stop by The Clarendon Enterprise or call a Firebelle at 806-477-2621, 806-220-8321, 806-663-1465, or 806-683-6311.