Back in 1969, a young Whiting firefighter responding to one of his first fire calls raced to town, in the process nearly losing control of his vehicle on a gravel road because of his speed.
After the grass fire was extinguished and the firefighters had returned to the fire station, Floyd Crossley sat the young firefighter down to talk to him about his recklessness, which someone had observed and reported to him.
Crossley said arriving a few seconds later wasn't going to make a big difference, and it was more important to arrive safely than not at all.
"If you go in the ditch, you're of no use to us," Terry Bearce said