When you live in a small, rural town, you learn quickly that you must depend on family, friends, neighbors, and volunteers when emergencies arise. Many times, our community has come together when hurricanes, tornados, wrecks, and other situations have occurred. We are a big family which does not always get along; however, we are there when it counts.
Our little town in the beautiful piney woods of East Texas has no local police department. We depend on the Newton County Sheriff’s Department which is understaffed for such a large county, and their response time can be well over 30 minutes for some locations in our town. As a result, we have learned to depend on our local volunteer first responders when emergencies happen.
The volunteers for the Burkeville Fire Department drop whatever they are doing at any time during the day or night to be the first to arrive on the scene. Whether it is a wreck, a fire, or a medical emergency, they jump right in to handle it. For example, my husband looked out our kitchen window this afternoon and saw a fire was spreading into our woods and towards our neighbor’s home. My husband could do little to stop the spread without access to water, and our neighbor was not home to assist. Within minutes, the members of the Burkeville Fire Department arrived and had the fire extinguished. Our neighbor sustained some damage to their property, but without the volunteers, it would have been devastating.
This is only a small example of all they do for our community, but it was a big reminder to me of how vital they are to our community. THANK YOU Burkeville Fire Department for showing up today and every day. You make a difference.
