Belott VFD Celebrates New Engine

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

BELOTT –   Belott rarely appears in the pages of The Messenger. A rural community located along Houston County’s Highway 21 north-east of Crockett, the town doesn’t make the headlines all too often. Those who live in the quiet, rural town are just fine with that, leaving the big city problems to the big cities. Their fire department, however, is a shining light in the county. With a number of volunteers hovering around 15, the department is always on the radar of the county’s first responders – helping here, assisting there, dealing with the thankfully rare forest fires prone to hit the area.

Belott Volunteer Fire Department (BVFD) along with Chief Justin Kellum and the other brave should who answer the calls have earned their stripes and a fire engine to assist their efforts. The engine, already in place, is set to have its big presentation and “push in” Saturday, April 28, with a fun day planned for all. 

Pushing the new fire engines into the station is an old tradition, brought back in recent years to help show the public the dedication of those who man the fire station, and also in gratitude for those who help provide such equipment in an age of lower budgets. 

Like any group of siblings, the brother and sister fire departments throughout the county run when needed by a fellow agency, adding power the the collective response and making up for the ever-dwindling numbers who volunteer. Like any brothers, they will always bicker a little and fight for precious resources – but make no mistake, they know they are all in the same boat, destined to sink if they don’t all row together. 

And like any family with older and younger brothers and sisters, hand-me-downs are worth their weight in gold. Crockett Fire Department (CFD) was able to donate the 2012-model fire engine to Belott, as they sent theirs to Ratcliff, to bolster efforts in that community. Each department was thus able to get some much-needed equipment, paying only for whatever minor technical issues or upgrades needed to keep the engines in top shape. 

Stephen Easley, who serves in BVFD with his father and Safety Officer Joe Easley, went to pick up the truck last week in Crockett, to make sure it is ready for the unveiling later this month. Easley said the Emergency Services District wanted more resources on that side of the county, in order to better support fires in the Piney Woods. Easley said BVFD faces few structure fires during a typical year, but although this was a quiet year, forest fires are a constant concern. 

While the engine is already in service, the team is working on getting the decals and other insignia to make the unit official and show it off at the “push-in” ceremony. Easley said there was other minor work to be done, but the unit had been well maintained by CFD. Their own unit had issues, but Ratcliff was happy to take on the project, already having fixed some of the issues on the vehicle. 

As reported often in these pages, local fire departments are still sorely understaffed, as the pool of volunteers seems to have dried up in recent years. Easley said BVFD usually has at least half of their members come out on calls – a remarkable achievement. 

“We’re doing decent,” Easley said. “We’re always looking for volunteers and that’s any department, since you have turnover and our numbers an change, month to month. We can never have too many volunteers.”

BVFD now stands with a fleet of six trucks, counting the new engine, a tanker trucks and brush trucks. 

The official acceptance of the new fire engine is set for Saturday, April 26, with the fun set to begin at 2 p.m., with an open house, music, pictures and hot dogs, before the engine gets pushed in at 4 p.m.

Easley said he and his father went to pick the engine up and give it a good check. Every kid wanted to be a fireman at some point and this reporter couldn’t resist the urge to ask if it was a fun machine to drive.

“My dad likes driving it,” Easley offered. “He said it rides like a Rolls-Royce.”

Good news for firefighters backs, since the roadwork along HWY 21 and the kind of terrain the engine will be facing deserves a “Rolls Royce.” 

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]