[This column was published March 6, 2002.]

Continuing with C.J. Mowell, Jr.’s memories of the Fayette County’s mid-20th 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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