Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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| Brad Baity’s casket is put onto a truck from Engine 19 at Charleston Baptist Church on Saturday afternoon. - Photo courtesy The Post and Courier, Charleston |
He was one of nine firefighters who lost their lives battling a furniture warehouse fire in Charleston, S.C.
Baity was 37 - and his hometown was Mocksville.
Though he only lived here six and a half years, there are still those who remember this brave man who died in the line of duty.
Jason Keaton is the fire chief at William R. Davie Volunteer Fire Department. He's served as a local firefighter for 18 years and though he doesn't know Baity personally, he says the loss of another firefighter is always a tragedy.
"It's true what they say - we're one big family,” Keaton said. “It's just heartbreaking to know a fireman has lost his life. You think a lot about them and think that could be you. We're running into what people are running away from."
Keaton says Davie County has been blessed because to his knowledge no firefighter here has ever lost their life in the line of duty.
Polly Seager of Mocksville remembers Baity as a small boy living next door to her family. "I knew him when," Seager said.
Seager says her family moved to Tot and Gwen streets in Mocksville in the early 1970s. "Dot and Jim Baity lived next door, and they were wonderful people," Seager said. "We were thrilled to have small children living next to us."
She said that Brad was the youngest of the Baity children. He has an older sister and brother. Seager's daughter, Colleen, was friends with his sister, Sharon.
Seager said that the family ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.