LETTERS: FIRE DEPARTMENT THANKS ALL WHO HELPED DURING BLAZE

To the editor:

The evening of Saturday, Nov. 19, will be one that area firefighters will remember for a long time to come. A three-alarm fire destroyed Lanter Courier Co., 226 Linda Lane, and severely damaged the attached Plaza Tire Service. This fire caused injuries to four Cape Girardeau firefighters and property damage estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Only the heroic efforts of firefighters making a determined stand at the Plaza Tire Distribution Center allowed that structure to be saved.

Controlling an emergency of this magnitude required that many different agencies, both public and private, be brought together for the common goal of extinguishing the fire. Without the unselfish efforts of our local businesses and neighboring fire departments, considerably more property damage would have occurred. The Cape Girardeau Fire Department publicly thanks the following for their invaluable operational support:

Jackson Fire Department, Scott City Fire Department, Millersville Fire Department, Cape Girardeau Police Department, Cape Girardeau city manager's office, North Scott County Ambulance Service, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, Fruitland Fire District, East County Fire District, Cape County Ambulance Service, Cape Girardeau dispatchers and communicators, Union Electric Co., South Scott County Ambulance Service, Cape Girardeau Water Department and Cape Girardeau Park and Recreation Department.

The department also thanks the Salvation Army, Papa John's, B.G.'s Deli, Taco Bell, Schnuck's, Wal-Mart, Hardee's, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza and Genex Oxygen for the time, effort and money expended in providing the logistics necessary to properly support an operation of many hours' duration.

ROBERT L. RIDGEWAY

Fire Chief

Cape Girardeau