Firefighters lending a hand is one example of region pulling together

People are tired of hearing the words "coronavirus" and "COVID-19," and I'm certainly not the exception.

Despite what some people think, though, there's no agenda at stake, other than informing the public. That's what responsible media does. We find stories that affect real people and we report them.

In the case of a pandemic, by definition an outbreak of disease that has become widespread in a large area or population, we're going to write stories about it.

Readers have the choice to read or ignore the stories. We just put them out there.

But I understand why we're tired of hearing about this. We all are.

So here's a positive story related to this subject.

Apparently several firefighters in West Frankfort either tested positive for COVID-19 or otherwise were exposed to it. Either way, it meant that several firefighters, about nine people, were going to be unable to serve the fire department in West Frankfort for a number of days.

Some jobs are fine when a large number of people are gone at one time. Fire departments are not.

That's why communities around the region pitched in to help. Harrisburg was one of those communities, with some of our firefighters providing staffing for a 24-hour shift.

Many others, including Marion, Herrin and Mount Vernon were some of the towns that helped.

And fortunately for us, it's not uncommon, especially in southern Illinois. Even our most populous areas are still mostly rural compared to other places. All of the communities in our region need a hand at sometime or another, and usually our neighbors want to help. As long as I can remember, most, if not all of the fire departments around are pretty tight. They bend over backward to assist each other.

Police departments do the same. Eldorado Police Department is always quick to help Harrisburg, and vice versa. Plus, the Saline County Sheriff's Office assists both departments when needed. Neighboring county law enforcement departments also help one another.

For Harrisburg, helping out another fire department is one way of giving back. Harrisburg Public Safety Commissioner Raymond Gunning said he recalled the outpouring of support Harrisburg received after the Feb. 29, 2012 "Leap Day Tornado." Many other communities provided critical support to Harrisburg in its time of need.

The thing is, though, I know that whether it were Harrisburg, Eldorado, Shawneetown, Ridgway or any of the many other communities in Saline or Gallatin County, or other towns and counties around the region, it wouldn't take a tornado or a flood or another major disaster for them to help each other.

Just knowing there is a need is all it takes for heroes to step up.