Tuesday, April 16, 2013

OVFD

Early Monday afternoon a crowd gathered alongside NC Highway 12 to witness the groundbreaking ceremony as construction of Ocracoke's new Fire Hall got underway. It was a celebration of community spirit, a demonstration of people working together for good, a small town illustration of what is best in the human spirit, a ray of hope amidst unspeakable national tragedy and evil.

Tommy & Julia Hutcherson Breaking Ground














Land for the new building was donated to the community by Julia Hutcherson and her son Tommy. In recognition of their generous donation Tommy and Julia had the honor of turning the first shovels full of sand.

The new Fire Hall (the current one is located on the Back Road) will be built on Highway 12 next to the El Faro restaurant (the former Flying Melon restaurant, which has moved to the Back Road).

Drawings for the New Ocracoke Fire Hall













You can learn more about the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department, here: http://www.ocracokevfd.org/ . These are men and women who give so much to our community, like fire fighters, police officers, and others throughout our country who respond to natural and man made tragedies. A heartfelt "Thank You" to all. 

Donations can be made on the Fire Department web site (look for the "donate" button), and are especially welcome now. As most of our readers know, Ocracoke is a small village, but we require fire equipment and personnel adequate to protect our much larger seasonal population of residents, property owners, and visitors. Every donation is welcome and much appreciated.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is a video of Philip Howard telling the story of the 1861 wreck of the Black Squall. You can watch it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news032113.htm

4 comments:

  1. OcracokeFan8:26 AM

    The Hutchersons are such wonderful people. Their kindness has been evident for so many years. What a joy to see the groundbreaking on this project.

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  2. Anonymous9:33 AM

    I,m happy to see that ground breaking day has arrived. Some time ago, when on one of your Ghost and History tours, Amy responded to a question by stating that house fires are probably a greater threat to the village than hurricanes. Ever since then, I have always managed to throw a few bucks into the boot at the firehouse. I am even a proud wearer of a OVFD tee shirt while here at home. I am sure that donations will be needed and appreciated for quite some time in the future.
    I thank the community of Ocracoke for all that they do and enriching my life.

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  3. Anonymous11:00 AM

    There should be a fee assessed to summer rentals to defray the added burden of fire protection during the increases in population i.e. fireworks during July

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    Replies
    1. The Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department does receive some funds from the occupancy tax.

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