On Monday, Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Lewis had great reason to be thankful after the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Lewis said. “We of course had our normal volume of service calls with medical transports, but there was not one earth-shattering event that occurred.”
Just a few days prior, Lewis and his crews were preparing for what is typically a busy weekend for service calls, especially structure fires, which are notorious on Thanksgiving Day. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, three times as many kitchen fires occur on Thanksgiving than any other average day.
Lewis and his crew, however, were busy the day before Thanksgiving as the department assisted the Pahrump Senior Center in delivering turkey dinners for the facility’s Meals on Wheels program.
Lewis said he and his crews look forward to participating in the program each year.
The fire department’s crews from both the career and volunteer side, join in the effort where they cover various parts of the community to deliver the meals.
“It went real well again this year,” he said. “The program has been ongoing for many years. It’s great for our seniors and it gives the ability to go out there and meet with the seniors.”
Additionally, Lewis said their participation creates no service disruptions in the valley whiles crews are on the road.
“We still keep crews back handling medical calls,” he said. “If there’s a fire event, we respond to that just as we normally would. When we’re delivering the meals, it give us the opportunity to get out and check on some of the seniors because many of them have medical issues that we are quite familiar with.”
Lewis also noted that there are a few hazards to be aware of when delivering the meals to the homes of local residents.
“We have learned over the years that when we are on the property and if a dog comes out of nowhere, we place the turkey dinner between us and the dog,” Lewis said. “If he starts showing any aggression, the dinner is his. It’s much better than my leg.”
Pahrump Senior Center Site Manager Anne Blankenship-Harris praised the efforts of the fire department and all of the volunteers who participated.
“We just want to thank Scott Lewis and his crews for all of the work they performed in getting the dinners to our homebound seniors,” she said. “They delivered 100 Meals on Wheels while our staff served 220 dinners at the center. The staff was here at 2 a.m., on Wednesday to get everything prepared and we’re always grateful to serve the community. It’s like one big family.”
Later this month, the Senior Center will provide Christmas dinners for local seniors.