Kudos to the Danville fire department

By: The Editorial Board | GoDanRiver
Published: February 22, 2012

To the editor:

On Sunday, the Danville Fire Department received a call around 12:05 p.m. of a house fire on Paxton Street. The damage to the house could have been worse than it was but the fire department was on the scene very quickly.

The damage was enough that the homeowner could not stay there until repairs were made. That’s when I got a call. I’m a volunteer with the American Red Cross Disaster Team. The Red Cross has an agreement with the fire department that if they respond to a house fire and the homeowner is displaced, the fire department will call the Red Cross and we will respond to the scene. We will offer a room at a local motel, food and clothing as needed for the family.

After the fire had been put out and the homeowner was allowed to go back inside, I saw something that told me these people really care about their jobs of helping people. The homeowner stated that she had a friend coming over to help remove some of their personal belongings from the house, but instead of leaving the scene, the firefighters waited around until the homeowner’s friend showed up with a vehicle to move the personal items. Even after being on the scene for more than three hours, these firefighters were wet, tired and hungry.

It was sleeting and snowing and the temperature was 34 degrees. But they waited until the homeowner’s friend arrived and each fireman assisted the homeowner with loading her vehicle up with all the belongings the car would hold.

These firemen didn’t have to do this. They could have just packed up and went back to the firehouse. This would have left the homeowner to do all this just after losing part of their home. I would like to commend the members of the Danville Fire Department for a job well done and going over the call of duty for the compassion that they gave to a Danville citizen in their time of need.

Again, thank you to the members of the Danville Fire Department for a job well done.

DANNY TATE

American Red Cross disaster team

Danville