BY LEIGH T. HOLLINS
The afternoon of Thursday, November 16, 2000, was like any other fall afternoon in west-central Florida. The weather was sunny and clear; the temperature was in the low 70s-the kind of weather that most other parts of the country only dream of in mid-November. Certainly, it was not the kind of day on which you would expect a major incident, but that was what was in store for the South Manatee Fire & Rescue District. One of those "once-in-a-career" type of incidents took us all by surprise.
South Manatee Station 310 and 340 companies were "picking up" from a heavily involved motor home fire when the airwaves started crackling with talk of a plane down. Since the motor home fire was within one-half mile or so of the airport, we assumed someone from the other side of the airport saw the large column of smoke from our "job" and assumed that a plane crashed. It soon became apparent that that was not the case.
If you are a current subscriber,login hereto access this content.
If you would like to become a subscriber, please visit ushere.
