For 12 years now, Vulcan Materials Company of Blairsville has supported the Union County Fire Department with an annual grant that helps keep the community safe. Typically, the grant award is around $2,500, and this year, those funds were put to good use with purchases for aquatic rescues.
“We had to replace a bunch of ropes (and) hardware,” explained Fire Lt. David Ueltzen, adding that all rescue ropes must be discarded after a decade. Whether they’ve been used or not, ropes need to be frequently replaced to meet safety standards.
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Specifically, the Vulcan grant has enabled local first responders who answer calls for flooding or boating mishaps – that is, the “Swiftwater Team” – to have new gear like life preservers, rescue ropes and hardware, headlamps, a hose inflation kit and even a rope-launching gun.
During the Nov. 5 donation observance at Fire Station No. 1, Fire Capt. Justin Blanchard even offered a live demonstration of the rope launcher’s capabilities.
With a self-explanatory name, the device can be used to send twine out to an anchor point, usually to act as a pulley system. To fire the gun, one must use a blank cartridge with a designated amount of power behind it. Included in the case were three sets of cartridges for three different distances up to 300 yards.
Among the other grant-purchased items, the inflation kit can pump air into fire hoses during floods, allowing them to be stretched across streams or other large bodies of water. From there, a person who has washed away in the current can have something to grab onto.
Having worked for Vulcan for a little over a year now, this was Lolita Browning Jackson’s first time coming to Blairsville. She helped secure the funds for the grant, and Station 1 firefighters and staff were grateful for her role in adding to the department’s rescue repertoire.
While there, she and two other Vulcan representatives – David Fuller, local Vulcan Materials Plant Manager, and Tim Stinton, Jr., Plant Supervisor – received a tour of sorts to give them an idea of the impact Vulcan has had at the Fire Department over the years.
Past investments include a life-sized rescue mannequin weighing over 150 pounds to reflect the average weight and height of an adult man. Firefighters train with the mannequin, pulling him through imperiled buildings or “rescuing” him off rooftops, Ueltzen said.
Another valuable acquisition from a past year was a drone with enough camera clarity to pick up license plate numbers from 300 feet in the air. Not only that, but it can detect heat signatures, and learning to fly the drone only calls for in-house training.
“It’s got infrared, so if we have a missing child or a missing person, we can be out in the woods checking,” Blanchard said. “We can even assist the Sheriff’s Office, which we did about two weeks ago.”
When it comes to choosing what equipment is purchased per grant, Fire Chief David Dyer said he and Ueltzen get together and talk to team leaders to find out where replacements or upgrades may be needed. One year, some extra attention may be afforded to, for example, search and rescue, while other years may see a focus on a different specialty.
After the brief visit to Station 1, Jackson made her way to the Vulcan quarry nearby on the Gainesville Highway. She anticipated this year to be her first of many more meaningful visits – and personal grant presentations – to Union County.
