Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to First Friday with Georgetown County. It is December already. I don't know where the year has gone, but we have a very special exciting event coming up next weekend and Bob Willie, our president of the Friends of the Georgetown Library is here to tell us all about it.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: So.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: So Bob, tell us about what's happening next weekend.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Well, this will be our 23rd annual Yuletide Home tour of historic homes and museums and churches in Georgetown. It'll be taking place on Saturday, December 13, one week from this weekend. And looking forward to it very, very much as we're excited to be able to offer 11 homes that have been specially decorated both in the historic district as well as across the way in Willowbank.
And then in addition to that, two historic churches and four museums.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Oh great.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: So it's really quite a package for those who participate and this is a.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Self guided tour so people can come and do everything at their own pace. It's from one to five, is that right?
[00:01:13] Speaker A: That is correct. It is self guided.
We have homes stretching all the way from close by to the library on Cleland street all the way over towards St. James and specifically we've got a package over in Cannon street of some homes and we're very, very pleased this year with some new things that are going to be involved.
I believe it's four homes have never ever been on the tour before.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: That will be exciting for the people who do this every year.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: And the other part is that we always do different homes each year. So there's no homes that are repeats from the previous year, although we have some from back two years and three years and four years because they're popular and beautiful.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And some people really go all out decorating these homes for the holidays before this tour occurs.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: They do. I, I'll be selfish and mention if, if I ask other people to have their homes on the tour.
We include ours every few years. And so our all going out is my wife with our almost 300 nativities in our home. So that's one of the places. But all the homes are just beautiful and special. They are ones that have great history all the way from the 1700s to the 1900s. And so that part of it's just a very special part to be able to see people's homes. And then as I say some unique parts for us is our church. We have Prince George Winyaw Anglican Church which has regularly been a part of our tour. That's a beautiful church.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Inside it is an extremely historic.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Yes. And in addition this Year for the first time on our tour and for the first time in a long time, Bethel AME African Methodist Episcopal Church is included in the tour. They very graciously have opened their doors after a number of years of being shut to the community. Although obviously very active as far as their own congregation is concerned. And that had to do with the sad events of several years ago of the tragedy in Charleston. Yes. But the pastor there has very graciously opened the church for us this year.
And that is a beautiful church and also very historic. It's the oldest African American church in the community. 1863.
They celebrated their anniversary a few years back, a couple years back. But now just to be able to see that church is wonderful.
And then we're blessed with a real richness of museums here in town.
And so we have the Kaminsky House, which is specially decorated for the holidays, as well as the addition of the Maritime Museum, the County Museum, and then the Gola Museum. And all those are very, very special part of our community and a special part of our tour.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So this sounds like just a wonderful full day of beautiful things to see. Make sure you bring your cameras if you go. And I think I'm going to come for the first time. I'm really excited. Adelaide, my daughter, is old enough to come along and hopefully not break anything.
I'm very excited about it. I hope that we will have lot of other first time participants this year.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: And we do. We're. We're very, very pleased how this has expanded. As I say, the 23rd. This is, this is my 11th to participate in and organize along with a wonderful team of people from the community.
We've grown from around 150 or so about 10 years ago to over 770 last year.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: And we're really hoping to pass the 800 number. It is not crowded with a number of homes and museums and churches. People are spread out all over. So it's not. You might have to wait a little bit at some of the homes because they're smaller, but it's not inconvenient. And it's really just a nice way you can drive from location to location.
It's probably not walkable, but at the same time you can stop and park at a particular area and hit several of the homes and museums at one time.
The tickets, I should mention, I was.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Going to say, and it's a very affordable ticket.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: The tickets are $25 or 20 if you're a Friends member and if you're a member of any of the Friends Group of the Georgetown Libraries, Any of them libraries, it is $20. And those tickets are available at each of those libraries. So any of the branches of the Georgetown Library, the tickets are available. You can pick them up there, and there you're able to pay by either cash or check. And then they also are available online at our website, which is myfogle.org m.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Y f o g l dot org.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Thank you. And so that's easy there to get that. And that's by credit card on online. Yes.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: And tell us where all these funds go.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: Thank you for mentioning that. Because this is 100% going toward the programs, in particular the youth and children's programs at our Georgetown library. This is our major fundraiser for the year.
It's been a very, very gratifying process to be able to participate as the friends group supporting our library and the that they offer. And we're just very excited about the children's and youth programs that have been going on that are reaching not only children at the library, but also children at a number of the centers in the area that the staff has gone out proactively to support and encourage.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: In Reading, Ms. Silvana and her team are doing a great job.
[00:06:41] Speaker D: They really are.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: I know they go to daycares and all sorts of things with the bookmobile. And the programs they're having are just wonderful. I loved watching them.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: And that's the task of the friends. The task of the friends is to support those programs. And as I said, this is our primary fundraiser for the year to be able to do that.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: And, Bob, we appreciate you and the friends groups, all of our friends groups, for all that you do for our library programs. We thank you. And we cannot wait for the Yoltide Home tour on Saturday, December 13th.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you very much.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: I love this month's podcast because I just got to talk to my friend Bob, and now I get to talk to another friend. Assistant Fire Chief Aaron Bostick with Georgetown County Fire ems.
[00:07:26] Speaker D: Good morning, Jackie.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Good.
[00:07:27] Speaker D: Thank you for having me.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: You are most welcome. I love having you on the show. This is your first time?
[00:07:32] Speaker D: It's my first time.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: And he's a little bit nervous, so we're going to be gentle with him who works, really.
All right, Assistant Chief, we are talking about some winter safety tips. We've had a couple cold snaps already. People are putting up their Christmas trees. A lot of them have had them up for a while. Randy won't let me put mine up until after Thanksgiving.
But there are some inherent dangers that go along with those you know, propane heaters in the house, Christmas tree, fire dangers, things like that. Can you talk with us a little about that?
[00:08:05] Speaker D: Certainly. So since we started off with the Christmas trees, Christmas trees can be. So are you a real Christmas tree person or are you like Christmas tree?
[00:08:14] Speaker B: I'm a fake Christmas tree person because I can't keep any plant alive and the Christmas tree would be dead long before we got to Christmas.
[00:08:21] Speaker D: I love real Christmas tree, but they're just, they're kind of a pain and without proper care and, and some maintenance, they can be very dangerous actually.
But keeping them, keeping them green and keeping them wet is, is the most, is the easiest way to prolong them and keep them from drying out. So if you've got, you know, a dog that likes to go down there and drink the water out of the bowl, you've got to make sure that, that the tree has, is, stays, stays full of water because.
Or else, you know, your, your limbs and leaves and stuff will start drying out on the tree, which can create a fire hazard. And UL and NIST and there's been a lot of companies out there that have done some, some studies on Christmas tree fires and there's a lot of videos out there, but they, they quickly. A Christmas tree can, can darken down a room and, and, and make your entire room full of smoke and a, you know, full fire.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And those fires, I've seen videos on YouTube of how fast they can evolve. Is that the word?
[00:09:24] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, they, they do. And it's, it can happen very quickly. And when those Christmas trees dry out there, it's basically like a little tinder box and all it takes is a little bit of spark and that. That tree's up.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: And everything around it obviously can go up very quickly as well.
[00:09:41] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Right. So go. Speaking of Christmas trees, you also have, if you're like me, 10,000 things plugged in with the, the Christmas lights and the singing elves and whatever else other decorations you have, it can be so.
[00:09:54] Speaker D: Easy to do because you've got, you know, around the holidays and around Christmas time, you've got so many things that you bring out and want to dis.
And you only got so many plugs in the house.
So really the best way to, to go about plugging stuff in like that is use a surge protector.
One that's actually got, not necessarily a multi plug, but one that's actually got a line coming off of it. A true surge protector with four or five outlets on it and keeping those even though it's got four or five outlets on it. You don't want to completely overload those because they'll start getting warm. And when you start getting, getting warm and start building up heat, that's where emergencies and fires start happening.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: And are there like certain safety ratings or anything on the package that I should be looking for when I buy these?
[00:10:40] Speaker D: Everything should be UL listed.
So as long as it's got a UL listing on it, you should be good to go.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Right. And if I'm remembering correctly, there are things I should not plug into like a surge protector or a multi plug, right?
[00:10:53] Speaker D: Yes. If you have your larger space heater, any kind of space heater should not be plugged into a surge protector.
Those, those search protectors are not designed for that. And again, they'll start building up heat. And when you build up heat, that's when you have a chance for a fire.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: And I'll just tell you, a house fire is my absolute worst nightmare, to lose absolutely everything.
So I'm very cautious about this. So I appreciate you coming on to talk to people about this because we certainly don't want anybody suffering through that in the holidays or anytime really.
[00:11:24] Speaker D: But most certainly. And you know, there's, when house fires are the last thing that those folks that experienced that, that's the last thing they thought was going to happen that day. So it's especially around the holidays we get so busy and we get so hyper focused on family and entertaining and you know, just things that we do around the holidays, it's very easy to, to have an emergency, you know. And.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: So speaking of the heaters, what else can you tell us about heater safety if you're using, you know, anything other than the standard H vac.
[00:11:59] Speaker D: So here locally in Georgetown county, we have a large part of our population that heat their homes in non traditional, in non traditional methods.
[00:12:13] Speaker C: Kerosene heaters.
[00:12:13] Speaker D: Kerosene heaters are very popular in our area and they're very efficient, but they can be very dangerous.
And what we see most of the time, fires occurring through these heaters is because of a refueling issue.
Sometimes people don't use the correct fuel.
And also more importantly, they're supposed to be fueled outside.
So you know, it's at nighttime, it's very cold outside, you want to get that heater going back again.
So it's, it's a whole lot easier just to bring the fuel inside and do it there. But that's extremely dangerous. And that's, that's where we have most of our emergency Zeno fires with these Kerosene heaters.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Tell me what makes that dangerous, because I'll be honest, I grew up with one of those kerosene heaters and it was cold or it was dark and my dad would bring the fuel in and refill it even though he knew he shouldn't.
[00:13:08] Speaker D: So anytime when you're refueling, you have the chance to splash that fuel around.
You have the chance to splash it on the carpet and get it on the surrounding areas.
And that heater's still hot. So all it takes is just a little bit of fuel in the right spot and you've got a flash and all of a sudden you've got a house fire.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: We also have, with certain heating mechanisms, carbon monoxide risks.
[00:13:34] Speaker D: So anything, any type of gas, if you're, if your house uses any type of gas at all, you should have carbon monoxide alarms.
Any type of, whether it's a stove, any type of heating appliance, if your house uses gas, you should have working smoke alarm or, I'm sorry, working carbon monoxide alarms.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: And what about like wood powered fireplaces.
[00:14:00] Speaker D: Wood burning stoves, they're very, very efficient and they're actually pretty prevalent in our district as well. But you've got to keep those chimneys clean and that's, you know, an annual thing that you've got. You've got to have those inspected and.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Supposed to do that annually.
[00:14:19] Speaker D: Your chimney should be cleaned pretty often.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: I don't even know who to call for that. There's chimney sweeps still a thing.
[00:14:26] Speaker D: Yeah, they are actually. They are.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Okay, well, I've learned something new and exciting today. So I've had my house for almost 10 years and the chimney has never been swept. Oops. Okay, thanks for that advice.
[00:14:38] Speaker D: Those are definitely, and it depends on what kind of wood you're burning.
You know, a lot of those different woods kind of create different buildup inside your chimney. So it's, it just depends on what kind of wood you're burning. So that has an effect on it as well.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: So I feel like I should be looking for like a 13 year old Victorian boy to come.
Sorry, I didn't realize that was even still a thing. And I should have.
Oh, well.
So how about like turkey fryers? That's a big thing this time of year too.
[00:15:10] Speaker D: Yeah, everybody loves frying the turkey.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: I mean, it tastes really good and.
[00:15:13] Speaker D: It is the best way to do it in my personal opinion.
But it can be very dangerous if it's not done correctly.
Most certainly needs to be done outside, away from, you know, any, any overhangs or you Know, right from any porches or anything like that.
And of course, the bit where people mess up the biggest, where the turkey fryers is overfilling their turkey fryer with oil.
So when you put the oil in the, in the turkey fryer and then you put the turkey in it, the turkey displaces a certain amount of oil. So when the turkey goes in there, the oil comes out, it's very flammable. It hits the flame on the bottom of the turkey frying pot and whoosh.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:55] Speaker D: So it can be very dangerous. But if you measure your oil before you actually cook your turkey is the best way to do it and then you won't overfill it.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: I'm actually going to say the best way to do it is to get one of those laser infrared fryers. This is not a paid endorsement, but we bought one several years ago and they make some really darn good moist turkeys.
It tastes just like fried. We've still got some leftovers. Come on over.
Let's see. And since 4th of July. Not 4th of July, where am I? Since New Year's Eve is also just around the corner. You want to talk about fireworks?
[00:16:31] Speaker D: Yeah, we can talk about some fireworks.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: What's some of the, the worst fireworks injuries you've seen over your career?
[00:16:37] Speaker D: Definitely, definitely burns. I've seen quite a bit of burns with fireworks over the years, Fourth of July and New Year's in general. But sparklers are another one that we, we feel like sparklers are, you know, kind of nonchalant.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: And you know, I played with them as a kid, like a little kid. I would not let my child touch them.
[00:16:58] Speaker D: They burn extremely hot, like temperatures that you wouldn't even believe. So they're, they can be super dangerous. And normally we hand those to our kids and don't really supervise them a ton. But when you hand out those sparklers, make sure there's some supervision going on as well.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah, missing fingers, things like that.
[00:17:18] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, we've definitely things blowing up, using them improperly or, you know, trying to, I guess, break, bend the envelope a little bit of, of how to, you know, I guess using them improperly would probably be the. One of the worst things that you could do. You know, you would, you have to light them and, and use them how they're instructed be used.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: So we don't use fireworks at home personally, just because I have that fear that my husband's going to blow his hand off or something bad is going to happen.
But if people do want to use them at home, if they're going to do that. What safety tips do you have? Just follow the directions.
[00:18:06] Speaker D: Use them in an open area.
Make sure that, you know, you've got, if you're using mortars or something like that, make sure you've got a good open field away from any homes.
Make sure that it's not been very dry. So that's, that's another thing people don't really think about.
The sparks and everything from fireworks can create a brush fire or forest fire very, very quickly. So.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: And people often forget, I mean everybody thinks about hurricane, but forest fire is one of our biggest emergency threats here most certainly.
[00:18:41] Speaker D: And when it's dry and we usually associate brush fires and wood fires in the springtime and in the summertime. But you know, here in the last couple weeks it's been very dry. So I mean that's, it's, it can happen just in the fall time and the wintertime just like it can in the summer and the spring.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Yeah. And we've had a couple of woods fires, forest fires in the last year and those are pretty scary. I mean they can, they can just destroy so much so quickly.
[00:19:07] Speaker D: Hundreds of acres this past year burned in Georgetown County. I don't have a total number right this second, but we dealt with a pretty significant amount of wildfire this year.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: So we've covered Christmas trees, heating devices, fireworks, turkey fryers and electrical plugins. What else are we missing for the holidays? What other things should people be cautious with?
[00:19:30] Speaker D: I think we see quite a rise in cooking fires over the holidays and I think it's kind of the same sort of reasons that we've already talked about. People are entertaining, people have family over, guests over.
There's always a ton of cooking going on around the holidays and people just kind of get tunnel vision and you know, forget about a pot on the stove or you know, forget, forget about something in the oven. And it's just that time of year where it's very easy to do and we, we just urge all the residents and everybody to be as careful as you can and try to use as much common sense as you can through the holidays.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: And this isn't necessarily a holiday related thing, it's a year round thing. But I do always like to touch on this because I didn't know that it was a risk until it happened to me. Let's talk about like laptop batteries and cell phone batteries.
[00:20:24] Speaker D: So the, the lithium ion batteries have taken quite a leap in really everybody's lives.
But keeping those things, keeping them charged so keeping them plugged in all the time keeping them in, in places where they can't breathe and can't have good airflow and good air movement.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: So I shouldn't charge my cell phone under my pillow?
[00:20:52] Speaker D: No, that is, that is, that is.
[00:20:53] Speaker B: Not what I did, by the way.
[00:20:54] Speaker D: That would, we would definitely advise against charging your cell phone anywhere near your bed, honestly, because your bed is very, very flammable. And I don't know if you, like, you ever pick up your phone and sometimes it's been on the chart, they get warm. So when those batteries are malfunctioning or, you know, have, have some type of short circuit, they can have what they call thermal runaway. And that typically happens more in your larger batteries and your EV vehicles and stuff like that, electric vehicles. But those batteries can get hot and they can certainly cause fires.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: So I will tell you, it was probably 10 or 11 years ago. It was before we bought the house we live in now. We were asleep and my husband's laptop was turned off, but it had been left plugged in. And the smoke alarm goes off. You know, there's a loud pop. The cats are running up and down the stairs freaking out. And his laptop had just exploded and caught fire. So luckily, like, we had the fire extinguisher and we were able to put it out before the fire department even got there. But it had never even occurred to me that that was a thing that would set my house on fire.
[00:22:03] Speaker D: So was that in the middle of.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: The night or was the middle of the night?
[00:22:06] Speaker D: So you're. It's. Luckily it woke you up, but that's why smoke alarms are so important. But the pop woke you up. But again, having work and smoke alarms in the home.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Well, the smoke alarm also woke me up.
[00:22:18] Speaker D: Yeah. Having the smoke working smoke alarms in the home is probably one of the most important things. Fire safety in general.
[00:22:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: So, Aaron, anything else you can think of to tell us?
[00:22:31] Speaker D: I appreciate you having me on. It's been a pleasure.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: Hey, come on back and talk to us about some other stuff sometimes. It's been fun.
[00:22:36] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:22:37] Speaker C: That's it for this month's episode of First Friday with Georgetown County.
Thank you for listening. As always, I'd like to end with some important dates coming up this month.
Georgetown County Council only meets once in December. That meeting is scheduled for 5:30pm on Dec. 9 in County Council chambers.
The Board of Voter Registration and Elections will meet at 5:30pm the following night, December 10th.
The planning commission will meet at 5:30pmt. On December 18th. There will be a workshop prior to the meeting. The workshop is scheduled to begin at 4pm this month. The Veterans Services Office will celebrate Wreaths Across America that will occur on December 13th from 10:00am to 11:00am each December on National Wreaths Across America Day. We remember the fallen, honor those who serve, and teach our children the value of freedom with a wreath laying ceremony.
Also, as Bob told us earlier, the Yuletide Home Tour takes place that day, December 13th from 1 to 5pm the library has a number of holiday events happening this month. On December 9th from 2 to 4pm and December 16th from 4 to 6pm there will be winter Ceramic Painting at Georgetown's main branch. Get into the winter spirit with a relaxing and festive ceramic painting session. No experience needed. Come paint winter themed ceramics, enjoy good company and take home your own seasonal masterpiece.
The following day, December 10th from 10:30am to 11:30am Bright Star Theater will present Holidays around the World. Join us at the Waccamaw Neck Library for a magical multicultural celebration of the season. This special performance is perfect for all ages. Come and explore global holiday traditions through storytelling and Theater.
On December 22nd from 2:30 to 3:30pm Christmas Jukebox Bingo will take place at the Georgetown Main Branch. Get ready for a holly Jolly good time with a special holiday edition of Jukebox and Picture Bingo, complete with prizes and festive cheer.
Also as a reminder, county offices and facilities will be closed Dec. 12, 24th through the 26th and Jan. 1.
The county's landfill and recycling center hours may differ, so check our website for those hours.
Happy Holidays. See you next month.
