THE TRAIN WRECK

MY FIRST DAY AS A VOLUNTEER FIRE FIGHTER 

By

Maurice Whitlow
 

It seems a lot of the folks responding to "MindenMemories" lived in Dubberly.  I wonder if any remember a 13 car train wreck and fire in 1945.  I was 15 years old and "misrepresented" my age to become a volunteer fire fighter.  That was my first fire.  The tank cars were hauling aviation gasoline and made quite a fire.  Gasoline was rationed.  People use A or B stickers to buy rationed gas.  The day after the fire, we returned to the wreck scene because smoke was coming from one of the tank cars.  People were wading in the water and gasoline with buckets trying to skim the gas off the water.  Luck was with all, as the gasoline did not reignite  I was too new and young, so all I got to do was take water to the older fire fighters.  I was hooked on fire protection after that and followed that career path.