First-responders deserve our praise
In a matter of minutes, dozens of rescue workers converged on a rural Centertown home to help save the life of a young girl who had fallen into a 30-foot well. Their rapid response time is something which should make all of us feel a little bit more secure.
It should also make Warren County first-responders feel a tremendous amount of pride in knowing they are doing their job with tremendous efficiency. That efficiency might have just saved the life of a 9-year-old girl Sunday.
In the words of deputy Ramsey Womack, who was one of the first to arrive on the scene, “This was a classic Warren County rescue. I know I was driving as fast as I could to get here from Morrison. I have a 5-year-old boy and all I could think about is what I would do if he was trapped at the bottom of a well. I’d want whoever was on duty to drive pretty fast, too.”
In his years with the sheriff’s department, it’s not the first time Womack has seen rescue workers leap into action.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve been to a fire and seen volunteer firemen risk their lives,” said Womack. “These guys are volunteers, not even getting paid, and here they are risking their lives all for someone else.”
Warren County is fortunate to be so rich with these types of people, both volunteers and paid professionals. Workers with the Centertown Volunteer Fire Department, Warren County Ambulance Service, and Warren County Sheriff’s Department were all on the scene Sunday. What’s noteworthy is how quickly all of these units converged on Sunday’s accident scene.
This was not a house on a familiar street in downtown McMinnville. Rather, it was a country farmhouse located on an infrequently used road that most of us would need to look on a map to even find. It’s around a 15-minute drive from town when obeying posted speed limits. Yet there were Warren County’s first-responders, on the scene just minutes after the accident.
While taking proper precautions to avoid potential accidents is always the best policy, no amount of safety precautions will totally rid our lives of emergency situations. That’s why when emergencies do arise, it’s comforting to know we have a dedicated group of trained professionals right here in this county.
It’s fitting to stop and give these fine men and women a moment of praise for the lives they have already saved, and the many to come. A 9-year-old girl was likely added to that list Sunday. We never know when it could be our very own life which is hanging in the balance and every precious second makes a difference.