At the city commission, December 2 meeting, members of the audience vividly pointed out to the commission a myriad of things that could have happened during last month’s tragic fire that destroyed Apalachicola State Bank.
Specific items pointed out were that some of the fire hydrants in the downtown area didn’t work, and that the city needs to purchase a ladder truck to reach tall buildings similar to the bank building and a stern reminder that the downtown area has already burned to the ground at least twice during Apalachicola’s history.
While I readily admit, that our fire department is currently not the best-equipped fire department in the county, a dilemma that we must and will remedy in the near future. Unlike with other areas of the county, we have neither a ladder truck to reach the tall buildings nor a foam truck to extinguish a wide range of fires.
However, what we do have is a group of men and women who are definitely dedicated to the cause. I personally know of some in the department who would have used a garden hose to fight the bank fire if that’s all they had available.
The fact that we don’t have all the latest and greatest fire equipment speaks volumes for the volunteer that make up the department. To their credit, it was their quick response and dedication to duty that kept matters from getting any worse.
While our firefighters waited on the ladder trucks to arrive and the local pundits to awaken, they stood as the sole physical protectors between that fire and our beautiful city.
City commissioners are fully aware of the need to outfit the fire department with the necessary equipment to protect our city against future fires. However, until we are financially able to do so, I am thankful to God for the dedicated group of men and women that we do have and it's because of them, that what could have happened on that tragic morning... didn’t.
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