Redkey firefighters praised (1/18/05)

REDKEY — “Oh man, it’s just unbelievable.

“They weren’t asked to do it. They weren’t required to do it. They have been out there day in and day out, with hardly any sleep.

“They have gone over and above and beyond the call of duty.

“It was just amazing to see how hard they worked,” said Redkey resident Trisha Barnes, describing the town’s volunteer fire department members this week.

Barnes only lives a few doors from the fire station so she had a front row seat to see all the action, especially Wednesday when most of the firefighters were busy filling up more than 40 tons of sandbags during the daytime hours.

After that they either went straight home or to their paying jobs or stayed to have something to eat at the fire station before getting some needed rest, in anticipation of another long, hard day on Thursday when more heavy rain as well as possible flooding and strong winds were predicted. The weather was expected to turn colder with the possibility of snow entering the picture later in the week.

Redkey Fire Chief Randy Young said department volunteers have been manning the downtown station on a 24-hour basis, starting more than a week ago on Jan. 5, when the majority of Redkey residents and businesses lost power.

Usually the fire station is left unstaffed through the week, with the volunteers being notified by pagers when they are needed to respond to an emergency.

But the past few days have been different.

In addition to answering numerous calls related to the power outage — primarily dealing with such complaints as downed power lines and tree limbs leaning against power lines, as well as wires sparking and reports of cars stuck in high water — the volunteers have also been checking on the welfare of elderly residents and supplying hot meals to shut-ins.

In addition, Young said, firefighters have been helping pump out flooded basements, as well as clearing tree branches and other debris so streets could remain passable.

And then Wednesday morning with homes and businesses threatened with flooding, the fire fighters started a unified effort to fill sandbags, stockpiling many of them on a flatbed truck owned by one of the firefighters parked near the fire station.

Last week when almost the entire community was without electricity, Young set up his own portable generator to provide electricity for the fire station.

Young loaned the fire department his construction company’s generator, at no cost, on the night of Jan. 5. The next morning as area residents awoke to find themselves in the midst of an ice storm with a power outage affecting practically everyone in Jay County, Redkey firefighter Jim Guffey established a base kitchen at the fire station, providing free hot meals at first just to firefighters, but eventually to anyone in the community who wanted to stop by.

Next the department initiated a “free meals on wheels” program, delivering breakfast and dinner to shut-ins, the elderly and families who did not have heat or electricity in their homes.

Guffey estimated the department had delivered meals to about 25 senior citizens twice a day in the Westwind Apartments complex in Redkey alone.

Young said that Guffey was busy cooking each day from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. And much of the food was donated by Redkey firefighters and their families as well as local businesses.

Without electricity, the owners of Val’s Place “Two Doors Down” in Redkey realized the food in their freezers wouldn’t keep indefinitely. They donated it to the fire department.

Soon other community residents and business people were doing likewise. Later American Red Cross representatives dropped off even more food items.

As a result, the fire department menu ranged from chili, vegetable soup, ham and beans, hot dogs in garlic barbecue sauce, cooked shrimp and chicken fingers. There were soft drinks, bottled water and, of course, plenty of hot coffee, too.

Newly-hired Redkey deputy marshal Donnie James said he was on duty or call throughout all of last weekend. James said the fire department volunteers deserve an awful lot of credit for all the good they accomplished.

“Those guys did a heck of a job,” James said. “Redkey is fortunate to have them.”

James said that firefighter Eric Young, the fire chief’s younger brother, was just about living at the fire station all last weekend.

On Sunday, Redkey Fire Department members went door to door to check to see if individual residents were OK or needed anything. “We probably knocked on more than 100 doors Sunday,” the chief said.

The department has 20 regular members and about a dozen associate members. The whole department has been involved with this operation, Young said.

Barnes said, “(The firefighters) did things they were not asked to do, not required to do ... They certainly need to be recognized and thanked.”

“For such a small community, you just can’t praise them enough, and the police department, too,” added Redkey resident Terri Taylor. Town Marshal Rick Current also serves as assistant fire chief for the all-volunteer department.

Barnes, as well as Taylor, sent e-mail messages praising the local fire department volunteers this week to The Commercial Review’s “Helping Hands” series to recognize acts of heroism and good neighborliness in this time of emergency.

Taylor thanked the Redkey fire and police departments, as well as Redkey Church of the Nazarene Pastor Phil Dorries, also a Redkey volunteer firefighter, who offered the church building and parsonage as places of temporary shelter for individuals and families, as well as somewhere else where people could go to get a warm meal.

Rural Redkey resident Colleen Bicknell also sent an e-mail to The Commercial Review, thanking and praising the fire department.

“I know all the local agencies have been working hard on behalf of their communities, but I believe Randy Young and the Redkey Volunteer Fire Department have gone above and beyond the call of duty.”[[In-content Ad]]