View This Issue - Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce
View This Issue - Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce
View This Issue - Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce
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PANAMA CITY BEACH<br />
FIRE RESCUE DEPARTMENT<br />
By Lauren Williams<br />
There<br />
T<br />
isn’t much that the <strong>Panama</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong> Fire Rescue<br />
Department can’t do. When<br />
it comes to public safety,<br />
these are the guys you want<br />
to be serving in your community.<br />
Chief John Daly and his<br />
crew do an outstanding job<br />
<strong>of</strong> going above and beyond with their courageous<br />
performances. With our <strong>Beach</strong>’s<br />
miles <strong>of</strong> shoreline, high-rise condominiums<br />
and large influx <strong>of</strong> visitors navigating their<br />
way around <strong>Panama</strong> <strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong>, it takes a<br />
talented and dedicated team to make sure<br />
<strong>Panama</strong> <strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong> can go to bed soundly<br />
at night. Keeping our great city safe isn’t<br />
the only contribution given by the PCB Fire<br />
Rescue Department; they give back in a<br />
much, much bigger way!<br />
It was the year 1970 when “The <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Panama</strong> <strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong>” was formally founded.<br />
The combination <strong>of</strong> the cities <strong>of</strong> Edgewater,<br />
<strong>Panama</strong> <strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong>, Long <strong>Beach</strong> and<br />
West <strong>Panama</strong> <strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong> would be the<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficial make up <strong>of</strong> our community. Once<br />
“The <strong>City</strong>” was established, the merger <strong>of</strong><br />
the two area fire departments would constitute<br />
what we now know as the <strong>Panama</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Fire Department. What was then a<br />
complete volunteer-driven department that<br />
operated <strong>of</strong>f <strong>of</strong> a telephone system and fire<br />
alarm siren, is now a state-<strong>of</strong>-art operation<br />
boasting the best Basic Life Support program<br />
and most trained career Firefighter/<br />
EMT and Firefighter/Paramedic in Bay<br />
County. With those new, major implementations,<br />
the motto “Dedicated to Customer<br />
Service” now runs through the PCBFR<br />
Department’s veins. They wanted to give<br />
the people <strong>of</strong> <strong>Panama</strong> <strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong> a fire department<br />
that gave more to their community<br />
than just putting out fires—they wanted to<br />
give them hope.<br />
Fighting more than just the fires, the <strong>Panama</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong> <strong>Beach</strong> Fire Rescue Departments<br />
also provides:<br />
• Advanced Life Support<br />
• Vehicle Extraction<br />
• Haz-Mat Response<br />
• Water/Surf Rescue<br />
• High Angle Rope Rescue<br />
• Confined Space Rescue<br />
• Fire Prevention/ Safety Classes<br />
• CPR/First Aid courses<br />
• Fire Inspections<br />
• Child car seat safety inspections<br />
• Station/Vehicle tours<br />
• Blood pressure checks<br />
Going above their call <strong>of</strong> duty is obviously<br />
what they do, and serving their “customers”<br />
is what they do best.<br />
As it goes for most people in our nation,<br />
September 11, 2001, will be a date that<br />
forever lives in our minds. As it goes for<br />
most firefighters, it will be a date that forever<br />
lives in their hearts. Almost everyone<br />
can remember the exact time and place<br />
they were when they heard the news <strong>of</strong> that<br />
tragic first plane crash into WTC Tower I.<br />
“I remember being at home and watching<br />
the television,” Lt. Terry Parris recalls, “I<br />
sat there, like most Americans, stunned to<br />
what I was seeing. I remember the emotions<br />
that went through my body when the<br />
towers collapsed and I knew that innocent<br />
people died.” It was this realization that<br />
prompted Lt. Parris to propose the idea <strong>of</strong><br />
a stair climb. It was this idea that materialized<br />
into what is now called the 9-11 Memorial<br />
Stair Climb.<br />
If you were to take someone in the fire service<br />
and strip them <strong>of</strong> their helmet, uniform,<br />
gloves and badge—the brotherhood would<br />
still remain. “The fire service is a true brotherhood,”<br />
according to event coordinator Lt.<br />
Parris. “The firefighters I work with at PCB-<br />
FR are my brothers. When FDNY lost 343<br />
firefighters, I lost 343 <strong>of</strong> my brothers. Ask<br />
any firefighter that has been on the job for<br />
a while and they will tell you the same.” It<br />
is with that reaction and passion that has the<br />
PCBFR Department demonstrated one way<br />
they show their respect and pay tribute to<br />
those who have fallen in the line <strong>of</strong> duty.<br />
<strong>This</strong> year’s 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb will<br />
take place on Saturday, September 8, 2012,<br />
50 THE CIRCUIT September/October 2012