Hello Theodore and Dawes Communities,
It’s hard to believe that we are already into March and the official beginning of Spring is just 15 short days away. Your Theodore Dawes Fire Rescue Department continues to be hard at it responding to your calls and doing our best to provide you with a quality emergency response
service. As we jump into Spring many of us are inclined to do the ole traditional Spring Cleaning, which will also include those yards. Many of us have not touched our yards since the last time we mowed sometime way back in maybe October, so there is plenty of cleaning up to
be done. At least at my house there is. Your fire department asks that you use extreme caution when you break out those tools such as chainsaws and mowers. Many of us claim to be skilled users of chainsaws and I will say, it’s not rocket science, but those things can and do get away from the user sometimes or someone is a bit too careless. I speak from experience when I tell you that the results are never pretty and the victims are noticeably scarred for life, so please be careful.
The biggest request of your Theodore Dawes Fire Rescue Department is that when you decide to use fire as a tool in your spring cleanup, and you will, we ask that you be beyond cautious. Many of you are going to burn and we know that, currently there are no burn bands, but the Alabama Forestry Commission has advised that they are not issuing any burn permits at this time. That generally affects lager burning projects or controlled burns. It typically does not apply to you burning small amounts of debris in your yards. That being said, we ask that when burn, you do so in small piles at least 50 feet away from any structures. You should always be attentive to your fire and have a means to control and extinguish said fire and 911 is not the means. If you must call 911, that means the fire has gotten beyond your control because you burned too big of a fire, did not stay and attend to your fire, or you choose to burn when you really should not have, such as a windy day. Please use common sense when you decide to light that fire and do so when conditions are favorable. Just I was contacted for assistance with getting someone in touch with some help because he had just lost everything he owned because a brush fire got out of control and destroyed his home and everything in it. It was not in our area but less someone lost everything because of his or someone else’s carelessness with a fire. By the way, in the State of Alabama you are liable for damage caused by a fire you started. We hope everyone jumps into Spring without any issues and that our services are never needed. If it happens, we are ready and able to provide the services needed for your emergency.
In other news we are still working on Station 4. If you have been out around Three Notch Rd. and the McFarland extension intersection, you know there is a new Chevron but if you look just Southwest of it you will see a freshly painted Red Fire Station. We continue the work to get into that building and we continue to court the Dawes North area trying to get that area to join our Fire District. Lastly, since our government cannot seem to make a decision on it, we will also Spring forward this weekend. Don’t forget to spin those clocks up one hour on Saturday night.
Thank you all for allowing us to be your fire service.
Chief Byrd