The date was unusual to start with (12-13-14) but the volunteers from stations 3 and 9 were on a mission to give gifts to some of our neighbors in our first due area. Now you might ask what kind of gifts would firefighters be giving to neighbors in their first due and that is a good question but our fire prevention chairman Keith Fairfax wanted to go into one of our first due area’s to install the new version of 10 year smoke alarms at the Jay-Dee trailer park in Great Mills, Maryland.

It was a beautiful day and after the usual breakfast at Linda’s we all headed out to get it done. We were led by our Fire Chief Joe Gould and Mr. Fairfax who had left notices the previous day at each trailer to let them know we would be coming by on Saturday. We waited till a good time to make sure every one was up and headed out on the squad from 3 and an engine from 9.

Seems most were expecting us and that always makes the effort worthwhile. The smoke alarms were provided by Melvin Tennyson of Tennysons Fire Extinguishers who along with his son Mark also assisted us in making the installs. Now, I want to commend Melvin because he is always installing smoke alarms for anyone who needs them and probably installs several hundred over the course of a year.

Now while making our rounds we did in fact find several trailers that didn’t have any working smoke alarms so I can’t think of any better Christmas present than to possibly save a life by installing a working alarm. I might add that this trailer park was the site of a working fire a couple of years ago where our firefighters rescued two of the occupants of the trailer and they are alive today. They were asleep at the time and had no working smoke alarm. Fortunately at the time of the call the firefighters from station 3 got out quickly and the crews were able to make a successful rescue.

So in closing let me tell everyone who reads this story if you need a smoke alarm call either of our stations and they will get in touch with Mr. Tennyson or they will come out and install one for you. And would like to wish all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.