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| Top Story | This story pubished online: Saturday, May 15, 2004 11:21 PM CDT |
Formosa Plastics disaster proved value of volunteer fire departments in Illiopolis, nearby communities
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ILLIOPOLIS - As job descriptions go, this one doesn't sound promising.
Wanted: People willing to be called on to work any hour of the day or night at a moment's notice. Pay and benefits, none. Lots of opportunity to experience punishing physical labor and some danger. Occasionally, extreme danger.
"Are we crazy, weird, nuts? I don't know," said Kenny Stewart, a second lieutenant with the Illiopolis Volunteer Fire Protection District whose son, Brad, is the fire chief.
"Doing this has always seemed like something I ought to do. Your want to help your neighbors, help your community. I don't think any of us think too much about the risks involved at the time something is happening. I don't think you could do this job if you did that."
Luckily for Illiopolis, there are a whole bunch of guys who think just like that. When the Formosa Plastics Corp. chemical plant exploded and caught fire on the night of April 23, the 23-strong fire department came running. They were joined by hundreds of other firefighters from volunteer departments in five counties, an army of brave men rushing in where others feared to tread.
And he's been a member of the department for 42 years.
"Nothing of this magnitude had ever happened out there before, and I guess we all just hoped it never would happen," said Stewart, 67. "When I got there, I just remember thinking, 'What can we do to stop this; we've got to stop this.' "
Joining him on the front lines was 22-year-old firefighter Bret Patton. He's been with the department for two years and is studying fire science at Richland Community College with a career goal of becoming a paid firefighter with a big-city department. He says working as a volunteer is giving him valuable practical experience, and he gained a whole bunch of that battling the chemical plant blaze.
"After going in Friday night, I didn't get home until 9:30 p.m. Saturday," said Patton, who at one point had to be told to leave and get some rest. "I was back there at 5 a.m. the next day, and I worked there all day Sunday. I got back home at 6 p.m., slept until midnight, and then went back out with our Sunday night shift and stayed there until it was all pretty much over."
Patton doesn't like to talk about the details of what he saw and did in the fire but says only that he was "in the thick of it." He hasn't spent a lot of time thinking about all those disastrous "what if" scenarios, either.
"No, consideration of things like that hasn't fully set in for me," he said. "Maybe it never will. We all just did what we signed up to do, which is to help. People were out there who needed us, and helping them is where we needed to be."
He also says facing danger is easier when you are surrounded by colleagues you know well and are willing to trust with your life. "It's just a great thing to be a part of something like that," Patton said.
Stewart, a widower with 10 grandchildren, talks of the camaraderie, too. He describes the fire department as like a second family, full of friends who lean on each other. "You feel comfortable here," he said. "And, after 42 years, I'm going to keep turning up as long as I am physically able and I'm not being a burden to the others. I never felt, over the years, there was only a set amount I had to contribute."
@$:Tony Reid can be reached at treid@;herald-review.com or 421-7977.
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