BALDWIN - Local and state officials gathered in Baldwin Sunday afternoon to provide an update on Baldwin Fire Chief Joe Roy, who was struck by a vehicle while participating in a fundraiser Saturday morning.
Mayor Jerry Neace facilitated the event, saying Roy remains at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta with numerous injuries that resulted from the incident about 10:45 a.m. Saturday.
"His family is extremely grateful for the support and the prayers they have gotten over the last 24 hours," said Mayor Jerry Neace. "State Rep. [Terry] Rogers has called and spoken with the family and it was greatly appreciated by the family. Also, they have gotten prayers and messages through Facebook and social media from nearly every state in the country, and as far away as Switzerland."
Roy is a veteran firefighter, and part of a public safety family.
"He's well respected from the fire service community," Neace said.
When Roy was struck by a pickup truck Saturday morning, his injuries warranted helicopter transport to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, which is a Level 1 trauma center.
"He sustained some serious injuries," Neace said. "The injuries are a severe laceration to his right arm - and it did nick the tendon to his tricep, and they had to repair it. They were able to repair the laceration."
Neace said Roy was in surgery about two hours and in recovery about two hours for the repair of his arm.
"He came through that surgery just fine," Neace said. "He has a laceration in the back of his head. In the E.R., they sewed it up with staples. They saw nothing wrong in his CT scan - a minor concussion at the most. He has a broken left scapula [shoulder blade], so that will take some time to heal. Just with those injuries, he's going to be going through a lot of rehab just to get back to 100 percent. As of this morning, they're saying he will be released in a couple or few days, but it's a long road to recovery. I saw pictures of the laceration to his arm and it's quite severe, so it's going to take a long time for that to heal."
Roy joined Baldwin Fire Department as a volunteer on July 14, 1986, and began working for the department in 1991. He has spent the past 29 years as fire chief for the city.
"One thing I have to say is when you're struck by a vehicle it's not good," Neace said. "By the grace of God, he is way better than he could have been."
Neace said Sunday morning doctors found that Roy has a slight tear in his spleen.
"It's not bleeding, but they are observing it to make sure that there are not any complications with that," Neace said.
Baldwin Assistant Fire Chief Jamie Tyler and others from the department returned mid-afternoon Sunday after visiting Roy at Grady.
"He's in real good spirits," Tyler said. "He's of course sore. The main thing he's complaining about right now is he says he's got a bad headache."
Both Neace and Tyler praised Atlanta Fire Department for meeting Roy at Grady when he arrived by helicopter, then sending a crew to care for Roy's family.
"City of Atlanta Fire Department Station 4, which is about two or three blocks from Grady Memorial, welcomed the chief with hospitality," Tyler said. "They took one of their trucks out of service. It was at the E.R. waiting until Chief arrived. Once he arrived on scene, the personnel took him into the hospital. Chief Hood from City of Atlanta took the family under his wing, and he took them wherever they needed to go in the hospital. He was very accommodating to them. The family has a place to stay, and if they need meals they call the fire department and the fire department will take care of it. It's been a blessing."
Habersham County Fire Chief Jeff Cain explained that at the time of the accident Roy and other firefighters were collecting donations to equip a public safety color guard that has formed in the county.
"A bunch of the volunteers countywide have gotten together and they've seen a need for an honor guard in our county," Cain said. "When we have a death or something like that [in public safety], we've been fortunate enough to get honor guards coming from Forsyth County and other counties."
Cain said the individuals took it on themselves to go to the two weeks of training, on their own time. The members who volunteer to participate have spent their own money to try to start buying uniforms.
"This boot drive was part of their trying to raise money to make this honor guard a reality for this county - and for surrounding counties, too," Cain said. "It would be their way to give back, on top of what they already do now. To be a fireman, or to be a policeman, or to be a State Patrol, we don't do it for the money - especially on the volunteer side. It's because of the love for the community and the love of the people here is why they do what they do.
"This just shows more of what kind of people they are that get out and do this," Cain said. "None of them got paid to be there Saturday [at the boot drive], none of them get paid to go to these classes. This is above and beyond what they normally do, but they feel a need somewhere inside that this is important enough to do."
Neace agreed, saying a lot of small communities don't have honor guards.
"Like Chief said, it's not something they do for money," Neace said. "They do it out of love for their fellow man."
Trooper 1st Class J. Tucker provided details of Saturday's wreck at Georgia Highway 384 (Duncan Bridge Road) at Mud Creek Road.
"The vehicle was a 2012 Toyota Tundra, and it was driven by an R.W. Nored from Dahlonega," Tucker said. "He was traveling south on Georgia 384 coming through the intersection. The pedestrian was Joseph Roy from Alto. He was standing on the double yellow line facing south at the intersection, so he didn't see the truck coming.
"The vehicle struck the pedestrian in the roadway with its left front headlight and the driver's side mirror," Tucker said. "Immediately, the vehicle pulled over to the shoulder of the road, did a u-turn back over to the shoulder of the road. Chief Roy landed approximately 15 feet from the area of impact, and was rendered help there."
Tucker, who was able to interview Roy about an hour prior to speaking, said the accident remains under investigation and no charges have been filed at this time.
Roy's wife Karen is a 9-1-1 dispatcher in Banks County. They have two sons, Dustin and Jacob. Dustin Roy is a volunteer firefighter in Baldwin. Chief Roy's brother, Kevin Roy, is chief of the Habersham Technical Rescue Team, and his niece works in law enforcement.
Both Tyler and Cain thanked other departments for stepping up to help as soon as they learned of Roy's accident.
"As fire chief of Habersham County, I'd like to thank the surrounding counties," Cain said. "I've gotten calls from White County, I've gotten calls from Rabun County, I've had calls from Hall County - which Hall County went above and beyond - and of course Atlanta. We were actually talking with a battalion chief for Atlanta that came up while I was down there yesterday visiting Chief Roy, and he actually said that he couldn't name the number of calls that they had received - basically countrywide that have come into Atlanta Fire Department wondering about Chief. He said that it has really touched a lot of people."
Tyler said it goes beyond national support.
"It's actually global, because as I was down there a while ago they had mentioned that there's actually a fire department in Switzerland that had called and asked to see how he was," Tyler said.
"So we may be far apart but we're close together," Cain added, saying it's the same way on the law enforcement side of public safety. "It's one big family. We may work for different departments, but when it all comes down we become one - and it shows."
Tyler detailed the support the department has received in the hours since Roy's accident.
In addition to Habersham County Fire Department, Baldwin Fire Department, Baldwin Police Department, Georgia State Patrol, Habersham Emergency Medical Services and Habersham County Sheriff's Office who responded to the scene, Hall County Fire Services, and fire departments from Habersham County, Clarkesville, Cornelia and Demorest offered coverage and/or sent personnel to Baldwin to help cover the station. Also, Banks County provided coverage for the area of that county normally covered by Baldwin firefighters.
"We had a large crew of people to come together in a short period of time to provide coverage for the guys who were trying to go down to visit Chief," Tyler said. "We're a small community, but we even come closer when it's one of our own."
Tyler praised Gainesville-based AirLife Georgia 2, saying the medical helicopter's response time from its base at the former Lanier Park Hospital to Level Grove Elementary, about two miles from the wreck scene, was very quick.
"Their time was impeccable - liftoff with pre-flight and in the air and on scene within nine minutes," Tyler said.
Following the update, Baldwin City Councilman Joe Elam spoke about Roy.
"I've known of Chief Roy long before I was ever on the council, noticing when he was volunteering I was still in high school," Elam said. "So speak about someone who really likes the community and sticks with it, it's quite obvious that he sets an example and that his men really follow him, and I appreciate his leadership. I sure wish he wasn't hurt!"
Likewise, Chief Tammy Ayers of Georgia Department of Corrections Station 1 at Lee Arrendale Fire Department in Alto expressed her department's respect for Roy.
"Our prayers are with Chief Roy and his family, as well as all of the Baldwin Fire Department guys," Ayers said. "We are all one big family in fire services, so when one of us is sick or hurt, we all hurt. We care deeply fro him and his guys, so we will continue to pray until he is 100 percent again."
Neace is optimistic Roy soon will be back at the helm of the department he has been a part of for almost three decades.
"Chief's going to have a long road to recovery, but we suspect he'll make a full recovery, and be back in service, hopefully sooner than later," Neace said. "He's got a lot of projects. On the northwest corner of this facility is a training center that he has put together over the years, basically by himself and with the department through volunteers and donations. We have a doublewide trailer that's about to become our training classrooms for the fire department and for the police department. He's been working on it constantly with firefighters here, and they volunteer to do it. We have a very tight fire department, and we have a very tight public safety community in Habersham and Banks counties, and I appreciate everything they've done, and I appreciate everything Joe Roy has done for us."
