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Irene
inspires
'above &
beyond' aid
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
E. PUTNAM --- With typical New England "can-do spirit," members of the East Putnam Fire District came together, serving their district and beyond.
Although a basic plan had existed for emergencies, East Putnam Fire Chief Abe Walker said officers of the 32-member fire department got together before Tropical Storm Irene to fine tune the plan. As it turned out, because of the length of the power failure in East Putnam, plans were continually tweaked. A good bit of East Putnam was without power for almost a week, he said.
All the members "felt compelled to do it," Walker said. "They definitely went above and beyond," he added with pride.
In addition to running more than 38 calls in the first 48 hours, including structure fires, motor vehicle accidents, and medical calls, members rotated through the firehouse on Route 44, manning the station from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
"We let WINY radio know that we were open with bathrooms, water and a place to charge electronics," Walker said.
Walker said the station had a "steady stream" of people all day long. Many folks from Rhode Island also came, he said.
"All the members rotated through," Walker said, "and the single guys stayed longer amounts of time." He said there was a minimum of six volunteers manning the station daily.
Under the "above and beyond" department, Walker said members put together work parties to clean up fallen trees that did not involve wires, helping to speed the clean-up process.
Walker said the members took rides through the district. They did welfare checks on the elderly every day. Members heard on WINY Radio that a horse farm on Hurry Hill was without electricity and could not use the pump to get water for the horses, but the owner didn't give a name. Knowing the district as well as they do, members figured there were only two farms with horses and they brought water to both of them.
Residents were grateful for the aid, Walker said, some offering donations. "We certainly felt appreciated," he added.
As for Walker, he is beyond proud of the members. "The members were more than thrilled to help out."