Hello Theodore Dawes and welcome to August.
I would typically start this chat with the mention of us entering the “Dog Days of Summer”, but I think we have been in them since May. Man is it hot out there! We have had a few heat exposure calls over the last month, but not enough to be alarming. I will say that as we
roll into August, watch out for the children! Mobile County and many other area schools start rolling back into session for another year of
learning. So, keep your eyes alert around bus stops and school zones. Please slow down when you know the children have just exited a bus that has pulled away, children these days can be just as distracted as some drivers and remember, it is illegal to pass a loading or unloading bus.
ALL LANES MUST STOP UNTIL THE BUS TURNS OFF ITS LIGHTS.
In other news, your Theodore Dawes Fire Rescue Department is growing. The plan since I became Chief was to grow this department and provide even better service to the communities we serve. If you didn’t know, the Fire District owns property on Schillinger Rd. S. between
Three Notch and the light at Theodore Dawes N. Our plan is to someday, in the not too distant future, build and staff a station on that property. It will be a larger, modern Fire Station with a large multi-use facility. It will be a facility that the Fire District and our communities will be proud of. It is going to require funds beyond what we collect yearly, Ms. Tanner and I are constantly looking for avenues of funding for that project. Even though that facility is not a current reality, we are still growing this department. The Fire District recently purchased a building in the Western area of our district, the intersection of Three Notch and McFarland/Ben Hamilton to be precise. We have some work to do to make the building into a fire station, but we hope to get started on that this month. This should be of great interest to our residents west of Goldmine, and in the Dawes Ln., McFarland, and Dawes Hardware areas. A couple of neighborhoods I can think of off the top of my head are Champion Hills and Arlington Oaks. A couple of weeks back I did a little test and left that property and drove to Scott Dairy Loop and Latigo Rd, which is the northwest corner of our District. Driving with the normal flow of traffic took just shy of five minutes, which equates to quicker response times to emergencies in your area. Our plan is to staff that station with paid firefighters and back them up with volunteers as we currently do at Station 1.
I have stated in previous chats, we are funded by the once-a-year fire fee and a few monetary donations here and there, so our budget is limited. I would like to reach out to anyone in our District who may make furniture, beds, cabinets, or is in construction
and may like to donate material, expertise, or funds. We would certainly appreciate the opportunity to promote you and/or your business on all our social media. We hope this bit of news brings some excitement to everyone in our District, I know I am excited to get this project
going and getting fire department assets up and running in that area.
As always, we thank for your support of the Theodore Dawes Fire Rescue department and allowing us the opportunity to serve the Theodore Dawes Communities.
Chief Byrd