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When Steve and I [Chris Rich] first moved here in 1997, I took my dog for a walk on South Ponte Vedra Beach. Shortly afterward, a local woman warned me that was a no-no. She said this particular beach was a dangerous place for a woman by herself, even with a dog. Why would she say that?
I don't have time to tell you all the fires and emergencies our volunteers tackled. But I will tell you this one. The year after the building was finished, SPVA piled into it for a Christmas party. They barely got started when a fire call came in from the north. It spread quickly and scorched 600 acres of Guana. SPVA and five other fire stations, with a total of 75 firefighters, spent eight hours putting it out just in time to save South Ponte Vedra houses. When the SPVA crew came in for breaks, the Christmas party food was still all there waiting for them.
