Helping take the burden off Calvert

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

The Oct. 9 edition of The Calvert Recorder headlined one more volunteer effort by Drum Point to prepare its residents for a very real disaster.

The Drum Point Property Owners Association's leadership to prepare for a fire emergency by installing these lake fed fire hydrants gives our firefighters a tremendous boost.

This preparation may one day save lives and untold amounts of property.

The Recorder's account that it was the DPPOA's decision to install the hydrants is correct. However, it is also a vast understatement of the time and effort required by the DPPOA's volunteers to undertake this project.

Our community owes many thanks to John Gray, Roark Shallow, the DPPOA board and several others who thought this through and then on their own took the time and energy to complete the installations for the benefit of all of us.

This is the same volunteerism that can inspire many others, particularly Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members, to make our communities a safer place to live. Rather than being a burden on the county for emergency and safety services, these self-help initiatives put us in the position of enhancing the county's emergency response capabilities. Everyone can contribute in their own way.

Peter Holt, Lusby

The writer is the Drum Point Property Owners Association Community Emergency Response coordinator.