Two Fulton councilmen become firefighters for a day

Fulton councilmen Richard Vaughn, left, and Mike West practice resuscitating a training dummy during the Fulton Fire Department's Firefighter For A Day event Saturday. The department held the event, which included gearing up to rescue a dummy from a smoky house and using hydraulic rescue tools, to give councilmen a hands-on lesson on the challenges firefighters face in their duties.
Fulton councilmen Richard Vaughn, left, and Mike West practice resuscitating a training dummy during the Fulton Fire Department's Firefighter For A Day event Saturday. The department held the event, which included gearing up to rescue a dummy from a smoky house and using hydraulic rescue tools, to give councilmen a hands-on lesson on the challenges firefighters face in their duties.

When Richard Vaughn and Mike West are taking care of city business, they are usually passing ordinances or discussing municipal issues on the Fulton City Council.

But Saturday morning, they were suited up in several pounds of gear and crawling through a smoky house.

The councilmen took part in Firefighters for a Day, an event hosted by the Fulton Fire Department to give council members an opportunity to see firsthand what it was like to be in their boots - literally.

West and Vaughn suited up in full gear as they dragged a hose through a smoky building to rescue a victim - the Cote Sans Dessein Road house was lent to the city by Glove Con construction before it's demolished next week, the smoke was a chemically safe training solution and the "victim" was a dummy.

"You've got more respect for what they do on a day-to-day basis," West said after a water break following his trek through the smoky home. "It's definitely for someone in much better shape than I am."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.