Jonathan Smith, 13, of Harlem visited Evans Tuesday after school for one reason only – to see the fire trucks.
The Columbia County Emergency Management Agency put on a show of disaster preparedness at the Emergency Operations Center with free weather radios, free medical kits, free phone charging hubs and a half dozen displays of gear and equipment county employees and citizens can use to stay safe in a hurricane or flood.
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But none of that interested Jonathan.
“I want to become a firefighter and help out people and stuff,” Jonathan said while admiring the bright red truck from Columbia County Fire Department Station 2.
Jonathan is in the seventh grade at Harlem Middle School and though he is a good bit over six feet tall, he is shy and soft spoken. But he came out of his shell and blasted questions at Columbia County Fire Department Engineer Matt Kennedy.
“How many accidents have you responded to on I-20?” Jonathan asked.
Not many, Kennedy answered, then explained how different stations cover different areas of the county. He also gave Jonathan a detailed tour of the truck and tips about how to become a firefighter.
Larry Wyatt, 73, and his wife Emily, 72, ignored the fire truck. They were more interested in who to call and what steps to take in case of power outages, flooded roads or other emergencies. The Wyatts did take a free weather warning radio.
They also spoke to Stephanie Pilcher, the county’s 311 call center manager. Unlike the 911 call center, which is exclusively for emergency calls, the county’s 311 operators answer questions about potholes, folks who don’t mow their grass, where to go to pay your property tax, who to call when a streetlight is out or where to go to get a concealed weapons permit. The three operators who work for Pilcher are the county’s concierges.
David Earnest, 61, visited to see the operations center, but he spent most of his time catching up with his old friend Wendall Freeman, 64. They glanced at the display of sealable buckets the county put out showing people how to keep emergency supplies dry in an inexpensive bucket.
Earnest told his friend how he is building a 10-foot by 10-foot safe room in the basement of his new home on a 13-acre parcel of land on Washington Road out past Windmill Plantation. He will stock it with canned food and water and other supplies. He said he is going to make it strong enough to survive if his house collapses.
“Don’t call it a bomb shelter,” Freeman said.
“You can call it whatever you want,” Earnest said.
Shannon Holland brought her two children, Ana, 8, and Danny, 4, to the fire department’s fire safety trailer where Firefighter Wes Wingrove and Engineer Michael Aguilar showed the children what to do if there was a fire in their house.
“You throw your toys out the window and meet at the mailbox,” Ana said.
The items outside a child’s window could help firefighters identify where children may be in a burning house, Aguilar said.
Ana said she wants to be a firefighter, too.
“Because firefighters are brave and smart and strong, and they help people,” she said.
Her brother said he wants to be a dinosaur when he grows up.
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Shawn Granato, the director of Columbia County’s Emergency Management Agency, said his group likes to put on events about once a month so residents are familiar with county services. Citizens were welcomed into the command center, which Granato modeled after the military command posts he was familiar with during his 12 years as an Air Force targeting analysis.
His team has streamlined a tracking system that shows a map of the county and an icon representing every service call for traffic lights not working or a road blockage or a malfunctioning traffic light. The tracker is used even when there is no emergency, which helps streamline the information display and sharing for when an ice storm or thunderstorm socks the county.
Joshua B. Good is a staff reporter covering Columbia County and military/veterans’ issues for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joshua@theaugustapress.com
