On the front page of The Citizen (12-16-05, “Blaze damages Sweetgum home”) is a great picture of an incompetent, sheep-like, fire department. In the left foreground is a firefighter twiddling his thumbs and handling an uncharged hose. In the right background are two firefighters in full gear, using breathing apparatus outdoors, bunched up at the nozzle instead of one at the hose and another 10 to 15 feet away to help maneuver the hose, using almost a straight stream of water to fight a car fire ... and being blocked from doing an internal fire attack by PTC FD bureaucracy!

The homeowner and his neighbors probably could have done as good or better job fighting the fire with garden hoses because PTC FD seemed to be just wetting the area around the fire so it wouldn’t catch any neighboring homes on fire.

I’ve been an electrical helper since 1972 and an electrician since 1974, and was a paid firefighter from 1974 to 1984 with one of the best fire departments in the U.S. at the time - the DeKalb County Fire Department. When I bought a house here in PTC in 1996, I though I might volunteer. I talked with the PTC FD chief and he told me their procedures.

According to the PTC Fire Chief: “Mr. Bryan, I would have to fire or dismiss you if we arrived at a working fire and you turned off the electricity and gas to the house or building. I might even have you arrested.”

I though PTC’s chief was joking; no joke.

Since I’m not a bureaucratic, twiddling thumb kind of guy, especially at working fire scenes, I did not volunteer. Every two or three years I get the itch to volunteer, but, PTC Fire Department does not want firefighters who aggressively fight fires.

While some of the finest fire departments in the U.S. are volunteer, Peachtree City Fire Department is a well equipped, pathetic, firefighting department.

Should your house or business ever catch on fire in Peachtree City, make sure your loved ones are out at a pre-arranged location, call 911, then — if you know how to do it and have done if before! — quickly turn off the power and gas before the PTC Fire Department gets there. Maybe then PTC FD will mount an internal fire attack instead of twiddling their thumbs for an hour or so waiting for ‘Utility Assistance.’

Good luck, taxpayers and homeowners of Peachtree City! Any volunteer fire departments looking for real firefighters?

Postscript: As part of my ‘research’ for this letter I went by PTC’s smoke house training facility Jan. 7, 2006. While there, I gave them a rough draft of this letter and some other fire related stuff that might save their asses. We talked for about 15 minutes. Most of the time their response was “Bureaucracy, bureaucracy, bureaucracy ... and it’s dangerous to remove an electric meter.”

“Well, duh!” I though and left.

Sincerely, disgusted with the bureaucratic weenies of PTC Fire Department,

Bill Bryan
Peachtree City