LONGVIEW, Texas — Vernon Burks was driving down Loop 281 southeast of Longview one day when he saw the scene of a car wreck. Only one firefighter — the chief of the former Gum Springs Volunteer Fire Department — was there.
“I stopped and helped him,” said Burks, now the chief of the West Harrison Volunteer Fire Department. “I’ve been doing it ever since.”
What Burks saw at the scene of that wreck 47 years ago — a shortage of volunteer firefighters — is even greater today.
To read more from our news partners visit, the Longview-News Journal.