Music is one of the great joys in my life. Whether I am listening to the radio, playing a CD, or playing my tuba, music has an impact on my life. If you think about it, music has an impact on all of our lives. It can create moods and it can highlight memories.

 

You can literally change a person's mood with music. When I am feeling tired and low, I turn on some spirited circus music or some classic march music. My favorites are Sousa, R.B. Hall, Karl King, and Henry Fillmore. However, there is another type of music that also floats my boat when the mood is right.  I am referring to the classic ballads of Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles. These men had a special way with music. They could put more feeling into the words of their songs than any ten other folks. I was thinking about Ray Charles the other day as I winged my way to Atlanta, Georgia for the Firehouse Central Expo. 

 

It was my good fortune to be invited to visit a small volunteer fire department located about half way between Atlanta and Macon. The name of the community was Flovilla and the hospitality they showed me was truly the epitome good old Southern Hospitality. These dedicated volunteers protect a community of some 600 citizens. Their ranks are not that great, but their spirit and dedication are splendid indeed.

 

I was invited by Chief Glenn Williams, who has been in command for the department for more than 25 years. He dispatched Joey Buchanan to pick me up at the Atlanta International Airport. Joey brought his daughter Hailey along for the ride. A nicer and more well-behaved child would be hard to find. The traffic was fairly heavy, but the ride passed well. Their station is fairly new and is part of a fairly new municipal complex. The fire department is on one side and the local municipal meeting room is on the other. The offices of local government are sandwiched between the two other parts.

 

Before we sat down to supper, I toured the community and then reviewed the apparatus fleet. They have been most fortunate in getting FIRE Act grants to help them bring in some much-needed equipment. I was particularly fond of their mobile breathing apparatus unit. It is a trailer with an on-board compressor, a large band of cylinders and the necessary equipment to allow them to serve as a rehab/recharge station. This unit was acquired with money from the 2008 Fire Act award period.