Two Thumbs up for Tequila

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

Over here, we know him from the "Cowboys."

I'd like you to take a look at what he's been doing over the last 24 hours, in his words.

http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17504

You're a good man, Tequila, thank you for keeping your wits with you and showing kindness in the face of adversity.

AnnieLee

[Silver Creek Slim]

Yer a real pard, Tequila.

Slim

[Big Hext]

Hell yeah!

[Marshal Halloway]

I am not surprised reading Tequila's experience from yesterday and how he handled the situation.

What he didn't say in his post, is that he has been a voluntary firefighter in Flatonia for the last 20 plus years and still is.

I took the liberty of copying his post here:

At 6 pm yesterday our volunteer fire department received a page from dispatch that our local police requested assistance at the I-10.

Folks, you can not imagine what our little town has experienced over the last few days. Thousands upon thousands of folks were heading west to escape the wrath of Rita. All 4 lanes (2 East/2 West) of I-10 were bumper to bumper. Flatonia is half way between Houston and San Antonio and usually serves as a bathroom stop for people on their weekend trips to the Texas hill country. But we could never be prepared for this. By 6 pm there were over a thousand cars and trucks (or so we were told) on the side of I-10 that had run slap out of gas and we were the first available source of gas west of Houston.

Almost all of them had spent the last 12 to 35 hours in their cars covering the 100 plus miles from Houston. Tired, scared and worried to death while traveling with the elderly, children and every pet imaginable, they arrived throughout the night.

We received our page because things were getting out of control. By late evening three scenarios began to emerge. Some folks had lost one of the cars in their group and were trying to get a gallon or two of gas and return to help get them return to the group. Because I-10 was running all 4 lanes west this was the worse possible scenario. If you wanted to head east your only choice was to hoof it on foot.

Some solo travelers had walked five miles to get gas and then returned to their cars in a desperate attempt to make it to Flatonia to fill their tanks and finish their trip to San Antonio. Think about this for a minute. You are responsible for your family and you have to leave them on the side of the road at 2 am and head to town for gas. Some were lucky.

We were told that Texas Department of Transportation was traveling along and giving stranded motorist enough gas to make it to the next town and some guy was giving away gas out of two 55 gallon drums at a gallon each to anyone who had elderly folks or young children.

The second scenario included the people who had not only made it to Flatonia, but had actually received a full tank of gas. 10,000 gallons of gas may sound like a lot but when you have 100 miles of 4 lane bumper to bumper traffic it goes pretty fast. Words could not describe the burden that was lifted from their tired bodies.

I arrived on the scene when Scenario 3 was emerging. People were tired, gas was running out and they were in arms reach of their fair share when a few decided to cut in line. Things began to fall apart very fast. While there were many stories from my fellow firefighters, I will tell you what happened over the next 16 hours at MY ZONE.

I was assigned pump 8, 9 and 10 at the Shell station and my job was to organize a chaotic mess. It was still daylight and I was listening to 15 people talk at one time about how they had been waiting in line for 4 hours and someone was trying to cut in and fill their gallon jug. There was absolutely no organization and the staff inside the store were doing all they could just to process the gas/food/drink orders and had no time to keep order at the pumps.

I decided to jump in full bore. I stepped out into the middle of the pump island and let her rip. I WANT 3 LINES, ONE FOR EACH PUMP. YOU, YOU AND YOU START LINE ONE. YOU, YOU AND YOU LINE TWO AND YOU, YOU AND YOU IN LINE THREE. My name is Richard Young and I welcome you to Flatonia. I am here to see that each and every one of you has a safe trip as you head west but we must work together and get organized. Now let's do it.

Now here I am, a little runt in my yellow fireman pants barking orders at the top of my lungs and you would not believe what happened next. They jumped in their vehicles and filed into order and within 30 minutes we had a plan that was working. My rules were simple. You could fill your tank full but no extra gas in cans. You could do that down the road when more gas was available. Starting 3 cars back, I greeted each by welcoming them to our town and asking them where they were going and advised that we only had regular unleaded. I asked if they were using cash or credit/debit card and showed them how to use the pump. 85% of the time I actually had the pump inserted before they got out of the car. I tried to pump all the gas for the elderly and ladies who were traveling by themselves. These folks seamed to be the most stressed and conversely the most appreciative of my help. 98% thanked me for helping them and many commented on how we were the only town that had some type of game plan for gas distribution.

They were helping each other, talking among themselves and making the best of this situation. It was then that I realized that all they needed was someone to dampen the distress that had accumulated over the last 24 hours and make them feel like real people again.

It is amazing what ciaos and fatigue does to ones disposition. After panic and desperation set in a lot of folks come unglued very quickly. I witnessed the full gauntlet of emotions that both men and women display under stress. But the hung in there and persevered.

Given the circumstances I must say that I was proud of them and pleased to know that events of the aftermath of Katrina were very isolated and that my faith in the Cowboy Way is still alive and well.

I have a few more hours of work and then I plan to sleep peacefully knowing that all is well in Texas for the moment. Pray for us, the worst is yet to come.


Tequila

[litl rooster]

Hats off to ya Tequilla and your Pards at the Fire Dept.

[Jose Grande]

WOW !!! Good job.

[Ozarks Ranger]

Great job Tequila, Our hats off for all the Emergency personnel,  The whole U.S. is pulling for the Soutern states ravaged by the hurricanes.

Snake Eyes   

[Marshal harpoluke]

 

Well Done, ride on.

Best Reguards,

Marshal Harpoluke

[Wymore Wrangler]

Way to go Pardner... Yep he's all Cowboy in my book....

[Silent Joe]

Great job you've done,Tequila. Hat off for you and your pards.