In July, the Hardeeville Fire Department responded to a building fire on the corner of Main and Whyte Hardee Blvd. As this was a corner unit of an attached block of businesses, the chance of a massive conflagration was high. The fire was contained and suppressed before spreading to the adjoining buildings.
This is but one success of HFD. As citizens, we have come to expect success. But we don’t truly know how this performance was achieved. It takes hours of skills training, preparing equipment, physical workouts and team building.
There is so much to share. Deputy Chief of Operations, Jonathan Bekemeyer, wrote pages of information to educate me in preparation for this article. I hope to do justice to HFD as I attempt to give you an inside look at today’s fire department professionals; individuals who are part of a team that does so much more than put out fires. To accomplish this goal, for the first time, this will be a two-part series. This month will focus on traditional firefighting responsibilities, and next month with feature advanced lifesaving…