Firemen serving as marshals for Floyd Christmas Parade Sunday, December 6

by Wanda Combs
Editor

Firefighting has come a long way in the past 30-40 years, and three of those who have seen the changes firsthand will be leading the Floyd Christmas Parade this Sunday at 3 p.m. Serving as marshals for the 2009 parade, sponsored by the Floyd County Merchants’ and Businessmen’s Association, will be the Floyd County Volunteer Fire Department’s Tony Weddle, who has 43 years of experience as a firefighter, Junior Harris with 40 years of experience, and Derwood Agee with 38 years. All are lifelong residents of Floyd County.
Weddle, fire chief at Station 2 Willis, also serves as president of the county department. He began fighting fires as a teen-ager and remembers how it was in the beginning. “You had a truck that would squirt water, no personal equipment, and you did the best you could,” he recalled. “Now we’ve got some of the best fire fighting equipment available, and everyone has personal gear.” The turnaround in equipment is only part of the change. A volunteer firefighter now has training and certification requirements. Since most volunteers are also employed, they continue to depend on the willingness of their employers to allow them to leave when they are needed. Weddle said in most places of employment then and even now, the employers have been good about letting employees leave the job to fight fires.
Harris, who started fighting fires in 1969, works out of Station 1 Floyd. He began serving as fire chief for the entire county when assistant chiefs worked at the different stations. When fire chiefs were appointed for the stations, he was moved to commander chief, and then to Floyd’s chief, a job he held for 15 years. Agee has also been fire chief at Station 1.
The three of them have been on a lot of fires together over the years, despite working out of different stations. “That’s what makes the Floyd County Volunteer Fire Department unique,” explained Weddle. “You’ve got four stations, but just one fire department. I think that’s why it’s worked that well all these years.”
A county meeting is held once a month, and funding for the entire department comes from Floyd County in addition to each station conducting its own fundraisers throughout the year.
Volunteers in emergency service are accustomed to getting calls at all times. There are many times they sit down to start eating a meal, and the tone goes off. They get up in the middle of the night and respond in freezing cold weather. With a structure fire, they can be out all night long. Why do they stick with it?
“Once you get into it, it gets into your blood,” Harris replied. “Sometimes it’s hard, but you still enjoy helping people.”
The department also depends heavily on younger volunteers joining the department. “It’s going to take the young people to keep it going,” Weddle remarked. Although the volunteer ranks get a little slim at times, there are the “hard core” volunteers that hang in there, he added.
Weddle said the Stations help one another when a fire is to be fought. “When we’re toned out, our main purpose is getting something rolling, especially on structure fires.” If the responders determine more help is needed, other stations will quickly arrive to assist.