A 23-year Christmas tradition will continue in Bullitt County.
Monday, the Zoneton Fire Protection District began preparing for its annual Santa runs, transforming one of the department’s fire engines into a Christmas spectacular.
“This is by far my favorite event we do each year and a majority of our community [feels] the same way,” Captain Steve Corbin said.
This year, however, Corbin and his team are stringing the lights with heavy hearts. In October, Fire Chief Rob Orkies was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in his neck and lymph nodes.
As of Monday, Orkies remains intubated in the hospital fighting COVID-19-induced pneumonia. “He’s been like another dad, and it makes it tough because he’s usually the one on top of there,” Corbin said. “And we know that it’s something that he would definitely want to continue on.”