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Dinner benefits Turtle Creek |
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Friday, 20 March 2009 |
If you enjoy eating spaghetti, listening to entertainment, participating in an auction and having an opportunity to win something, then the Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire Department has just the thing.
The department will hold its first spaghetti dinner today, complete with entertainment, a live auction and the chance to win a rifle.
Proceeds will be used to purchase emergency equipment for the fire department.
The dinner also is in honor of Lt. Paul Baker, a firefighter who died in the line of duty in August 2007.
The event, sponsored by Saline County Justice of the Peace Kim Hanke of the Glen Rose-Haskell area, will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at the main fire station at 5900 U.S. 67 in Haskell. The auction will start at 6.
Tickets are $12.50 for adults and $7.50 for children 3-11. Adult tickets include a raffle ticket for a chance to win a Henry Classic lever-action .30-30 rifle.
Saline County Republican Commissioner Pat Rhodes, who is helping put the event together, said all elected officials, singers and “pickers” have been invited to provide entertainment.
Emergency equipment for the fire department will not only help save lives, but also will protect firefighters, Rhodes said.
“I hope people remember firefighter Lt. Paul Baker,” Rhodes said. “If the department would have had the emergency equipment then, it is possible, it might have saved his life.”
Baker, a 23-year department veteran, fell to his death while trying to save a life at the scene of a vehicle accident. Members of the Benton and Turtle Creek fire departments responded to the accident call about 1:50 a.m. on the overpass where Interstate 30 crosses Arkansas 229 near exit 114.
Benton Fire Chief Ben Blankenship said Baker, one of a number of fire personnel working to free the man, slipped and fell from the bridge to the ground. Saline County Coroner Will Bearden said Baker fell about 40 feet from the I-30 bridge to the freeway and died on impact.
“He apparently was attempting to gain access to a car wreck victim by pulling on the door,” Blankenship said. “He lost his grip and fell over the rail.”
Turtle Creek Fire Chief Jimmy Cooper said the department, “is deeply saddened to report the line-of-duty death of one of our brothers, Lt. Paul D. Baker.”
Arkansas State Trooper Shannon Fontenot said he also remembers working the scene of the accident where Baker was doing his duty as a firefighter.
“The car was up against the left lane in westbound traffic, pinned against the side of the bridge, and the driver was pinned inside the car on the left side,” Fontenot said. “Fireman Baker tried to get the keys out of the ignition and tried to climb on top of the car. The windshield was shattered and he couldn’t go through the door, but he lost his balance and fell over the edge of the bridge.
“Gas and oil were leaking on the bridge, and he was trying to get the engine turned off to make sure there was no more damage. This was an unfortunate accident, but fireman Baker was doing what he was supposed to do as a firefighter.”
For more information, call fire department at 776-0744, Rhodes at 617-2481 or Robert Scott at 317-8125.
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