Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 3 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
Volunteers Praised
To the editor:
On the way horrie this afternoon we passed by a house on fire south of Speoryville. The number of emergency vehicles-fire trucks, ambulances, sheriffs cars-were impressive. Later, a neighbor (both she and her husband are members of the Castleton Fire Department and Rescue Squad) came by the house and we asked her about that fire. What she told us simply amazed us.
Like so many other new residents of the county, we came from a suburban area with a professional fire department so that we hardly ever thought of what their work really was like. As we talked, interrupted from time to time by emergency calls and messages coming in over her radio, a picture emerged of a small group of volunteers braving bitterly cold weather trying to save lives and property. She matter-of-factly explained why they like to have three ambulances at a fire (one for injured home occupants or a fireman who may have fallen through the roof, one for firemen who have to be thawed and warmed up and one for any other emergency that may arise), how the firemen had to keep thawing away the valves that froze up (and sometimes burst), cut a hole in the ice in a pond where again the hoses would freeze up and how they had to use plyers to unbuckle firemen’s coats that were solidly frozen.
Then the work of the rescue squad itself-things one thinks happen only to someone else—automobile and other accidents, cardiac arrests, and efforts to save the victims. She talked of this fire and two other fires and other calls that kept them up all night. The way she talked made us realize that to her and other volunteers that was just their way of life. There was no bragging, no complaining and no feeling sorry for herself.
86.9%