Well, its been awhile since I last posted. Hell, lets be honest, its been awhile since I last visited. Thought I would let you know how things are going to date.

 As you may know, I was among the first DOT certified first responders in Pickens County, AL. In two years time, that number has grown to over fifty countywide. I am also proud to say that my department has about 15 certified responders out of about 20 personnel. Also, I am pleased to announce that myself & my Assistant Chief… Continue

A tragedy occurred in January of 2008 in our county. Torrential rains had washed out a section of road over a creek in the northern part of our district. Traveling home, a mother and her 2 year old son went off into the creek and perished. Her sister, trying to locate them, also goes off at the same area into the swift flowing water. She and her passenger survived.

Two long years have passed for this family. Instead of being bitter at the fire departments for any multitude of reasons, the… Continue

It was reported in our county paper this week that our county commission is looking into dissolving the E911 board and taking over until a new board could be formed. Let me say first off that I dont believe all the commissioners are for this.

The E911 board is to my knowledge not under the control of the county commission. They make decisions regarding E911 without having to get approval from the commission. I personnally believe they do a great job. The Director they hired (over protests… Continue

I know its been awhile, but its been busy department-wise lately. First off, we went from 2 certified DOT 1st Responders to over 10! Then came the firefighter grants. We're going for a newer pumper and equipment. Our turnouts are from 1998 or older, SCBA's are over 5 years old, pagers over 10 years old and most radios are over 4 years old. We also have no EMS equipment per say, just whats donated to us. Hopefully, these grants will come through to keep my personnel safer.

We also finally… Continue

Well folks its me once again! And I'm so happy its unbelievable! I can finally see that I am making a difference in the department. When I was elected Chief, I made a promise to all of our members that I would increase our class work. To that end, by the first Thursday in May, my department will have 8 new DOT Certified First Responders. Currently, its just myself and a Captain who are certified. We were part of the first class ever held in the county. Thirteen graduated in that class from 4… Continue

Earlier this week, my wife followed in the footsteps of the rest of the family into the fire service! The incident was at a house fire in the northern part of our district. Although the home couldn't be saved, the neighbors home was with just cosmetic damage.

I was so proud of her! This was her first working structure fire. She manned a 11/2 inch line solo for a time ( she admits it was "whupping her ass" too!) until the other mutual aid departments arrived to help out. She then secured… Continue

It gets me everyday. What you ask? The general apathy of the general public to the fire, rescue, EMS and police services. Has the public totally forgotten the sacrifices the men & women make for them on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis? Everyone seems to believe for some reason that we in the fire service have unlimited funding. Where do they get their information?

Where I live, we have 17 seperate departments. Of these, at least 4, possibly 5, recieve some funding from their… Continue