that was threatening homes...
marty sewell told the lamar county commission tuesday night a firefighter responding to a brush fire threatening homes in northeast lamar county earlier that day refused to take action. he said the fireman refused to put water on the fire until he (sewell) drove to town, found commission chairman jay matthews and took him to the scene.
sewell plowed a firebreak around the fire with his own tractor.
"it is dry. it is windy. we got 100,000 acres burning in south georgia. if firefighters don't want to do their jobs then get rid of them," said sewell, a trained firefighter himself.
"there ain't a person in this room who would complain about our taxes if we got our money's worth," sewell added.
fire chief steve andrews said the firefighter involved - bill reeder - did exactly as he had been trained to do.
"it was a pretty good fire and it threatened a couple of houses. when we have limited personnel and limited water we take a defensive posture to protect homes and structures and have an agreement with the georgia forestry commission to handle th woods. bill reeder is a very smart, very well trained firefighter. he did just what he was trained to do. our paid guys are second to none," andrews said.
the local forestry unit is stuck with just a skeleton crew as most of its personnel are deployed to south georgia at present.
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26 comments:
I know Bill Reeder. He's been a fireman for many years. In fact he was fireman of the year one year. He does an excellent job. If he refused then there was a good reason. Not because he was shirking his duties. All we've heard is Mr. Sewell's side.
If I am reading correctly, the firefighter, upon seeing a brush fire, decided to drive to town to find mr. matthews and then go back to fight the fire?! If we are trainig fire fighters, lets train them to fight fire and not jump through hoops of red tape. If he was doing as he has been trained, then the trainers need to be fired. If there is some sort of policy in place that constitutes this type of irresponsible action, then the policy makers need to be fired. There is plenty of time to play beauracrat(sp?) after the fire is put out. Steve Andrews needs to let this situation noodle around in his head for a minute and ask what he would want bill reeder to do if it was his property endangered, regardless of what he was "trained" to do. This is embarassing to the county.
I'll tell u what's on fire.... MY HOT DANCE MOVES!
WATCH ME WORK IT!
mmf-aaa-squeek-spin-umph-umph-pit-pat-....
HEY!
You watchin or what?
umph-umph-spin-twirk-SPLAT!!!
Dang it! You made me MESS UP!
One mo time-...pit-spin-shrug-jump,jump-wicky,wicky,wicky-WHAT-WHAT-
IS ANYONE WATCHIN ME MOVE?
Can't stand it... don't hate.
There has to be more to the story....as usual!
someone named juan gutierez living in barnesville is embarassing to the county.
This is more than once that I have read that county officials did not do something until they "checked' with the Chair. This is no way to do business...let people do their jobs.
Have just read the new terms of the blog...it is now worthless and i not only will not read it, but will stop reading the HG.
Do you suppose that Someone was afraid that the Marijuana in their basement would burn up?
from the way you describe this sewell sounds like he likes to make a mountain out of a mole hill....
as for the blog, anon 8:56 I agree with you this will the last entry looks to me this is getting political cause we have to watch what we say and it can be deleted at any time, this is suppose to be a blog we can say what we want!
I have always had a strange issue with the editor this just put the icing on the cake!
the firemen of lamar co do a great job with what they have to work i moved to milner 4 yrs ago and the times i'v seen them in action i'll put them up against any other firefighters anywhere
anon4:42 you did'nt read it right the story states that Sewell drove to town to get Matthews not the firefighter it's a shame you can't read and comprehend.
Juan,
Either learn the language or swim back across the river. They're not jumping through red tape, you're jumping to conclusions. You are lambasting people when you haven't a clue what you're talking about. You are embarassing the county, the country and yo mama. Seems to me you are a little too self important.
Something doesn't sound right...why would someone just let any property just burn. Esp..with the dry weather. Thank God the Volunteers in South Ga. aren't acting like this or there would be more than the 100,000 acres burnt and homes would of been gone. Not counting the lives that they have saved at 1am and gotten them out.
All i can say...is I hope I have plenty of water in case there is a fire on my property. Esp..if they have to go find someone to come get permission to do their jobs. I really do not remember it being like this years ago...when my husband was volunteer. Never knew of them having to get permission But again that was back in the day before things got so wrapped up in alot of politics. Anyways...LETS NOT BURN..
Like I said before, I am sure there are two sides to this story. Funny to me that the firefighters have always received a lot of praise on how well they do their jobs. I think that someone didnt get "their way" or the way they thought it should be done and now wants to stir the pot. But that comes along with working with the public. You cant please everyone all the time. In hope Mr. Reeder is reading thse post and laughing.
You will never make me believe that they had to let a fire burn until they got permission to put it out.....thats funny.
So lets see, a couple of weeks ago, our fire dept worked through the night to save two puppies. And now you are saying that people who would go out of their way to save an animal, would let someones property burn down just because they are lazy or worried about red tape.......you need to come up with something better than that. There are always two sides to a story. I for one, just out of common sense alone, will stand behind the fireman.
it is my understanding that firefighter reeder had a decision to make, flog a dead horse by attempting to put out the fire with little resources OR take position to defend structures against the flames while more help came to battle the blaze. he chose to defend the structures as, i am told, he was trained to do. mr sewell did not like this and took it upon himself to seek out mr matthews to complain. i do understand mr sewell's concern that he thought the fireman did not want to do his job but the simple fact is he must have just not understood the firefighters position on this. just misunderstanding and miscommunication as i see it
If you think Mr. Bill Reeder and Chief Andrews is correct read this link in this morning's Macon Telegraph.
http://www.macon.com/100/story/40113.html
After listening to Mr. Sewell's comments on another website, I believe the man is just a complainer who doesn't like to not get his way. He compained about just about everyone and every thing in the county from firefighters to road crew to secretaries. I believe there are lazy people out there, but Mr. Sewell seems to think all civil employees are. And I don't believe that. Especially the firemen.
The whole city is smokey now....what the hell is on fire???????
Some people always think they are right and there is nothing you can do about it. Basically sounds like he didnt get his way.
ANON 9:57....What was in the Macon link that was of importance? I went to it and didnt see anything regarding this fire....
Sewell you seem to know a whole lot about nothing or nothing about a whole lot.What you need to do is pack your s4i!!t and leave lamar co and quit whinning sounds like you're the type that would'nt be missed any way SO SHUT UP!!! better yet take your damn tractor to south Georgia and save the world since you think you know it all.
If Jay Matthews, with absolutely no fire training, countermanded the orders of the fire chief we should have a recall. His job is to administer the county not run the day to day jobs. Besides if he can tell firemen what to do he might be endangering the whole county. Those people have had years of training.
Hmmm, can someone tell me when the voters in the county decided to allow the city and county fire department to combine with one chief...? I seemed to have missed the opportunity to vote on that...
Given the long history of rank incompetence of the City of Barnesville fire department chiefs Blevins and "Insane" Devane, it is small wonder we have nonsense like this incident. Anyone else remember the gasoline spill at the City Barn and Chief Blevins' decision to use SAWDUST from the furniture mill to contain it?
Andrews is quoted in the newspaper as saying, "...have an agreement with the Georgia Forestry Commission to handle the woods..."
Perhaps Andrews is not up on current events, but the GFC has a full plate with the South Georgia wildfire situation. Just perhaps, the County "plan" could stand some modification in light of this?
Taxes are being paid for the county to provide firefighting services. If the present administration doesn't want to perform the services for which these taxes are being paid, it is time for some new administration.
Do you work for the fire dept? Do you know the policy and procedures?
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