Praise for our local first responders

The dog alarm went off at our house earlier this week, rousting us out of a deep sleep and, as anyone who owns a Corgi dog knows, the breed takes its job as chief security officer for the family very seriously. We take it pretty seriously, too, especially when the bark is as loud and persistent as it was in those wee hours on Monday morning. 

Now in general, our little COP (Corgi on patrol) regards a cat in the driveway as the same level of emergency as an arsonist starting a fire. So, when my other half went outside to see what all the fuss was about, he half expected to be greeted by one of the neighborhood cats. Instead, he saw flames at a neighbor’s house. Big flames. What we didn’t know at the time is that it was human caused, and Ollie the Corgi’s bark may have actually scared the perpetrator away.

We immediately called 911 for assistance and within minutes (not exaggerating) a team of all volunteer firefighters from the Lovell Fire Department were on the scene and had the fire out, averting what could have been an unfathomable disaster since there was an entire family fast asleep in the house set ablaze.

Also, in literally a matter of minutes, Officer Shantel Coleman was on the scene, quickly assessing that it was a suspicious fire and, believe me, she was on it, canvassing the scene for evidence. Due to her quick response, a suspect was in custody within hours.

What we witnessed first-hand that night was an amazing display of professionalism, lightning-fast response and just plain old-fashioned caring about our small community. We are truly blessed to have people like Coleman on our community policing team, officers who deeply care about our community and take their job to ensure our safety very seriously. We are equally blessed to have first responders, most of whom are volunteers, willing to rise to the call of duty any time of the day or night to keep us safe.

In my many years as a reporter for the Lovell Chronicle, I’ve seen this kind action on the part of our first responders and written news stories about it many times, and it isn’t the first time I’ve experienced it firsthand. In my opinion, it’s pretty much how they roll, and it’s a big part of what makes our community a great place.

I guess we’re also pretty lucky to have a dog who has taken it upon himself to be on duty 24/7, albeit annoying at times. We’re kind of proud of our little guy. He may be small in stature, but he’s mighty big when it comes to looking out for his family and the rest of the neighborhood.