Firefighters' Thanksgiving meal not typical; but then again, neither are the jobs they do

Ledger photos / TIM GULLA Members of the C-shift from the City of Gaffney's three fire stations bow their heads while saying grace before sharing a Thanksgiving meal. The fire department operates in three shifts, with each shift on call for a 24-hour period. Just a minute or two after this photo was taken, successive medical calls started coming in, emptying the dinner table. The menu at the City of Gaffney Fire Department headquarters likely strayed from a Pilgrim-approved Thanksgiving.

There was no turkey or stuffing.

Instead, the Thanksgiving feast centered on hamburger steaks the size of hubcaps, with side dishes of macaroni and cheese, fried onions and green beans, baked beans topped with bacon strips and generous helpings of potato salad.

But just like any Thanksgiving gathering, this meal was not about the food but about sitting down with family, even if blood relatives were nowhere in sight.

"This is a good bunch of people," said James "Slick" Owensby, one of the chaplains for the Gaffney Fire Department who was invited to the dinner and asked to say grace.

Owensby almost knew what was going to happen as soon as dinner was served, however. Emergency calls started coming in one by one, emptying the dinner table one squad at a time.

The city fire department operates on three shifts, with each shift on call 24-hours at a time. C-shift was on duty for Thanksgiving.

"They're our unsung heroes," Owensby said as the first of the squads raced from the dinner table to their trucks. "They're not appreciated until they're needed."