In Lawrence County we are blessed to be a place that many people call home. People from many different walks of life have settled in the County that we serve.

As we have mentioned in previous posts is that no matter who you are, when you call 911 and need our services we are going to respond. We are going to respond no matter your beliefs, your race, ethnicity, financial status, or your address.

That’s just what we do. The fact is that none of those things matter to us because in our eyes we are all people, and if you live in our County or one of our surrounding counties we are all neighbors. On many of our fire apparatus you will see the words “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” on the back of the trucks. It’s a a saying that we believe in, and certainly one that we live by.

Lawrence County is home to a large Amish Community. Many people travel here to explore the Amish way of life.

The Amish lifestyle is very interesting as they rely very little on modern technology. On the night of April 8,2025 Lawrence County Fire Rescue units were dispatched to a large barn fire in the West End Fire District. Initial reports indicated that the building was fully involved with fire, and that the fire was endangering a neighboring residence, and another shop building. As you can imagine, the fire had a significant head start on us due to the delay in 911 being contacted because telephones are not really utilized by the Amish Community.

The building that was on fire was also full of lumber,as the purpose of the building was for manufacturing, and finishing lumber. The building held a large amount of expensive lumber which created a huge fire load. Our units arrived quickly and were able to save the neighboring structures as we didn’t have the necessary water supply to even begin to extinguish the large fire in the building that was already collapsing.

None the less our personnel responded to the scene and assisted the property owners in every way possible. The fire was devastating to the property owners and the Amish community, as it would be to anyone who experiences a loss.

Now to the main point of this story. Many times since 9/11/2001 we have heard the saying that the tremendous loss that our Country endured on 9/11/2001 was an absolute tragedy, but that 9/12/2001 is what defined our Country.

That saying is used regularly to illustrate to a younger generation that our Country came together more than ever before to help each other after the tragedy. The building fire mentioned in this post is not a national tragedy, and no lives were lost like on September 11,2001. It’s not even a comparison of 9/11.That’s not the point of the analogy.

What we are trying to say is that this fire was a large loss for the Amish community, and especially for the family who owns the business. What we find amazing about this fire is not the fire itself which occurred on April 8th, but the way the Amish Community Responded on April 9th. We have attached three photos to this post.

The first picture was taken on April 8th, the second photo was taken on April 12, and the final photo was taken on April 17th. Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo on April 9th, but we did see a massive community clean up operation in full swing that day. In less than 8 days from the date of the fire the building has been torn down, rebuilt, and is ready for operation. All of this is a product of the community coming together as one to help someone in need.

This is an amazing accomplishment, and definitely something that we can all take notes from. The fact of the matter is that even in times of tragedy or significant loss, we are blessed to live in Lawrence County where “neighbors help neighbors.”