pt. 2

Continuing with C.J. Mowell,

Jr.'s memories of the Fayette County's mid-20 th century fire

service:

If there was a fire anywhere

in the county, a siren atop a water tank behind the sheriff's office would

sound the alarm for probably five minutes or more, or at least until someone

showed up to drive the old open-air 1952 Ford truck with about 500 feet

of hose on the back.

The only water supply with

hydrants was within the city limits of Fayetteville.

The story goes that when the

high school caught fire, the truck got there but had no hydrant wrench.

Someone had to go down to the planing mill on South Jeff Davis to find

the only one. It was not unusual to go to a fire and run out of water

just about the time you were getting it under control and then lose the

entire structure. I know of times the truck got there and nobody knew

how to get the water out of the tank, which was only about 500 gallons.

After a few embarrassing times

some of us decided it was time to get some training. John Crowe, a captain

on the DeKalb County Fire Department, agreed to help us, and he got us

started with organization and training. We started meeting fairly regularly.

We got the city of Fayetteville to get us some gear ­ we were moving

right along.

The county would not help,

but we got Russell Edmondson appointed as Civil Defense director and he

came up with all kinds of equipment. A lot of it was not worth going after,

but Russell said if we did not take advantage of the opportunity when

the good stuff came along we would not get a shot at it. So we ended up

with a bunch of junk at times.

As Peachtree City began to

grow, a group would come to Fayetteville and meet with us at the fire

station. We were advancing, in that Dr. [Ferrol] Sams donated a building

for us to house the fire truck and a place to meet. There was one stipulation;

The station had to be named "Daniel D. Farbecker Memorial Fire Station

Number One." We had a large sign erected to that effect.

We also started having Civil

Defense meetings, again, with participation from some concerned people

from Peachtree City.

As Peachtree City began to

grow, there seemed to be other things happening. There were some people

throughout the county who thought that Peachtree City was a threat to

the rest of the county. Some envisioned the erosion of political control,

new residents with different social customs and new ideas, planned development,

actively inviting new industry into our county and offering them tax credits.

There was definitely a strain on the politics in the county.

There was a discussion one

morning at Melear's Barbecue in Fayetteville that got rather heated. An

old-timer had heard just about as much as he could stand and confronted

this newcomer who was proposing all these changes, and asked why he moved

here if he thought everything needed to be changed.

The newcomer told him his company

had transferred him to this new city, and how wonderful it is, and said

the whole county needed to conform to these new ideas of proper planning.

The old-timer asked if he liked

where he had come from. The reply was, Yes, he sure did. The old-timer

told him that the same road that brought him here could carry him back;

everything was going along OK before he got here. This attitude was not

uncommon among the native and longtime residents here.

Peachtree City organized their

own fire department. There were some resources here that Fayetteville

didn't have. Industry made donations and Peachtree City had new up-to-date

equipment. Fayetteville still had to put up with old worn out, outdated

equipment, and a tanker that was a scrapped junkyard truck that Mr. Maddox

donated to us. It wasn't much, but could carry 1,500 to 2,000 gallons

of water if we could just get the truck there.

It was a challenge at times,

although the city fathers of Peachtree City sort of frowned on the equipment

going out in the county since the county had not contributed anything

to help fund the department.

But guess what? Fayetteville

and Peachtree City had and continue to have a mutual-aid agreement and

I have never known of either one not responding when called upon. It was

common practice for one department to call the other anytime a call came

in. We got the job done, but we always had good fellowship and a good

time.

I remember Fayetteville calling

Peachtree City to come and help us get our truck out of a well that Alvin

Huddleston had backed into. Peachtree City had their Tom Hughey. One bitter-cold

New Year's morning a wooden bridge over the railroad on Jenkins Road caught

fire. We notified Peachtree City and we all arrived about the same time.

The Fayetteville truck had

no water when it arrived on the scene and had to go to Fulton County to

get water. And everyone that showed up from Peachtree City, with the exception

of [teetotaler] Al Hogg, had such a hangover they weren't in much shape

to fight fire. I think they had all attended the same party the night

before.

It was not uncommon for fire

or rescue teams to go find something to eat together, especially after

a night or early morning fire. The only problem is sometimes one of the

departments would get a call and leave the others holding a ticket. Stan

Neely, Sallie, Frank Murphy, and, I think, the Reverend [John] Weber were

in a group that set me up at the Waffle House about 5 or 6 o'clock

one morning and had dispatch call them before we paid the bill. I still

haven't forgotten being left with the tab. Their day will come.

It was the cooperation of the

volunteers of both departments that [Emergency Medical Service] as we

know it today was brought about. Stanley Neely and I had the pleasure

of bringing the first EMS ambulances into the county. We had a fight on

our hands to get one stationed in Peachtree City, but we did it.

We all had a good time. We

were all volunteers. We were not paid to get along or be congenial. We

worked and played together, and appreciated one another. In reflecting

over the years, I think the relationship between the volunteer fire departments

of Fayetteville and Peachtree City was the catalyst that healed division

and animosity, and settled turmoil in our communities.

I am proud to have been a part

of something that started with nothing and has become what it is today.

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