As usual, our own Chief John Winn is
always thinking about others and, even in his battle with cancer, he continues
to encourage us to be positive and to work to help those in need. One of his missions during all of this is
that he wants to use his situation to raise awareness of the hidden dangers of
this business of firefighting. He knows
that with the proper scanning and testing as a part of a regular firefighter
physical, cancers and other life-threatening illnesses can be detected early
and treated accordingly. It is his wish that we join him in this campaign to
raise this awareness and to improve the future and health of all of our
firefighters.
To that end, we surprised him
yesterday at his birthday celebration with a Mack fire engine that we will paint
and wrap in a Pearl White color to use in this campaign to be sure our
firefighters can get the necessary testing to prevent the progression of a life-threatening
illness. This fire engine, to be called
“Big John”, will travel around our community and our state to encourage our
cities, counties, fire districts and other entities to provide the necessary testing
to help our firefighters.
When we set out on this journey,
we planned to use our Team’s American LaFrance Fire Engine to wrap and paint
but knew that we really needed a Mack Fire Truck. Chief John always drove, and was a Captain on
Macks, during his CFD career. Thanks to
our friends of the Old Fort Fire Department in Ladson, we found just the truck
we needed. Most of you in our area are
familiar with the “Blue Goose”, a 1968 Mack CF 600, that was recently taken out
of service at the OFFD. Upon hearing of
this truck, we approached Asst. Chief David Moore at Old Fort and inquired
about purchasing the truck. Upon hearing
of Chief Winn’s wishes, he got behind our effort and we are excited to tell you
that Chief Moore and the Board of Directors at Old Fort have donated this truck
to be restored as “Big John”. Chief Moore and Old Fort Board members, Lester
Demsey, Larry Hood and John Kilcoyne, were all in attendance yesterday as the “Blue
Goose” arrived at Chief Winn’s birthday party.
It is difficult to find words to
express our thanks for this contribution for a great cause but we sincerely appreciate
the support of our OFFD brothers and sisters, their Board of Directors, and all
others who have already pledged their support in this effort. We intend to make them proud as we move
forward with this project!
