By Ronnie Moore
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Copyright 2007 Chattanooga Publishing Company
POST, Ga. — Post Volunteer safety officer Gary McGhee has been fighting fires for about three decades and said he would do it over again, even knowing the dangers of the job.
“If a cat has nine lives, I’ve used about four,” the 59-year-old baby boomer said, noting he wanted to be a firefighter from the time he was a child.
Several boomer firefighters with the Catoosa, Post Volunteer and Fort Oglethorpe fire departments said their involvement is based in the camaraderie shared with colleagues and a desire to help the community by volunteering despite the dangers.
In one of Mr. McGhee’s close calls, a roof collapsed and knocked him unconscious at a fire at Happy Valley Dairy in 1981. Another time a wall fell on him during a fire in Graysville, Ga. Oddly, that incident may have saved his life.
“When I went to the hospital from the wall incident in Graysville it was discovered I had a brain aneurysm,” Mr. McGhee said. “I was fortunate because that probably saved my life. My wife received telephone calls three times from a fire chief informing her I was in the hospital.”
The brotherhood of firefighters, though, has changed.
Mr. McGhee noted during a recent Post Volunteer training exercise there are many female volunteers. And there is more science involved in the profession than there used to be.
“If you think this is easy, consider preparing for 3,750 potential questions for a fire lieutenant’s examination,” he said.
The ranks of volunteers are aging, though. James Dycus with Catoosa Fire and Rescue is too old to be classified as a boomer, but he was worked with many through the years.
“The entire department consisted of one engine, one tanker and 11 firefighters when I joined 43 years ago,” he said. “Improvements have advanced rapidly for protective turnout gear, suppression equipment and in communications.”
Mr. Dycus said emergency notification in 1964 was an emergency call to Wallace Funeral Home where an employee dispatched equipment and firefighters.
Clyde Ingle, 54, former assistant chief in charge of training with the Catoosa department, said the initial classes he taught involved firefighters to be added to man stations No. 4 and No. 5.
“Station five opened in a barn because the station building wasn’t ready,” he said. “It wasn’t literally the horse and buggy days at that time, but it wasn’t that far off when you compare the advances in gear, equipment and communications.”
He said modern technology such as thermal imaging cameras that work in heavy smoke were not even dreamed of yet.
“Most of our hose is now five-inch rather than two and one-half,” he said. “Those young green kids I initially trained and wondered if they would make it, have become leaders.”
Fort Oglethorpe Station No. 1 Capt. Larry Honeycutt, 57, said he talked to his wife about a need to do something, although he was married with two small children.
“I was a skydiver for several years in college, and I equate that with firefighting,” he said. “You love it, or you quit.”
Capt. Honeycutt said he and others rode the tailboards on engines and tankers when he joined the department in 1981.
“Breathing apparatus had no positive pressure, and thermal imaging cameras were unheard of,” he said. “We have them now and realize they’re worth their weight in gold.”
Capt. Honeycutt said protective gear can be too good.
“Some fire-retardant material is so good it’s easy to go too far into a fire with heat too intense for safety,” he said. “You need to keep an eye on things and closely monitor the temperature.”
However, some things haven’t changed much. Capt. Honeycutt said truss construction systems are great for builders, but a hazard to firefighters.
“The metal holding the roof support system together melts in the heat, causes failure and produces a greater chance of a roof collapsing on us,” he said. And materials used in mattresses, carpet and furniture can be toxic if inhaled.
Other things have changed, though.
He recalls the days when Post Volunteer provided fire protection for 450 square miles with more than 300 volunteers at 21 fire stations. Today, the department’s volunteer ranks of about 75 firefighters help staff three fire stations in western Catoosa County.