Family thanks area's volunteer firefighters

To the Editor:

On Monday night, Oct. 19, at 10:13 p.m., our hay barn caught fire along with all its contents and burned to the ground.

Webster’s dictionary defines volunteers as “a person who serves without pay” such as a volunteer fireman.

Too many times we have heard people from different parts of the state complain about the volunteer fire departments that serve those areas. After the experience we recently had with a fire that burned our hay barn, the volunteers from Redding and Jackson-Washington volunteer fire departments could not have been any more professional or helpful than they were.

They truly are people you can be proud to call your local volunteer fire departments. It was a compliment to the county volunteers as a whole to see how two separate departments could function as one in an emergency.

We would like to thank everyone involved: The Redding Volunteer Fire Department and The Jackson-Washington Volunteer Fire Department for their efforts to save our other buildings.

Some of them stayed until 4 a.m. and some came later, to keep watch on the smoldering debris and hot spots. We would also like to thank the Jackson County Chapter of the American Red Cross who came to offer their assistance, the 911 dispatcher who took our hysterical phone call and the many neighbors and friends who have stopped by and offered their support.

God bless you all.

Robert and Brenda Akin
Reddington, Ind.