A fire of inconvenience and a Good Samaritan
Chuck Jones was just a few miles from his home in Saint James City, returning from a business trip to Fort Lauderdale about 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday, when he came upon a long line of cars stopped in front of the Flamingo Bay community. He saw the smoke to the south so knew there must be a fire.
Jones, along with as many as 100 other motorists, spent hours stranded due to the shut down of Stringfellow Road as a result of a brush fire.
Some 70 or more cars in front of Jones sat his neighbor, Ken Duckmann. Mr. Duckmann was on his way home after helping some parishioners of his church. Since he owns a home in Pine Island Village which he rents to a young family, he phoned to check on them but did not get an answer.
“I had Gerard’s cell phone number so I called him. He was working on the northern end of the island and said he’d be right there. Sure enough, before long I saw him come speeding past.”
Duckmann was parked near the media staging area near the Boca Raton Bougainvilla Growers. “I think I was interviewed by every media person out there,” he said. “It helped pass the time.”
Sonny Grottanelli was another motorist who got stranded. He had heard about the fire and decided to go and check on a friend’s home, which he feared may be threatened.
When he saw how many others were in the same boat as he was, he decided to take action.
“I’d been an over-the-road, long-haul truck driver for years and always tried to help folks out when I saw they were in a bad situation,” Grottanelli said. “So I turned around, went to the CVS and picked up nine cases of water. I figured the folks could use some with temperatures in the 90s.”
Grottanelli enlisted the aid of Paul, the driver of a pick up truck, and they loaded the water in the back leaving the tailgate down. Paul drove the truck slowing down the line of cars while Sonny passed out water.
“I really appreciated Sonny providing that bottle of water, as I’m sure many others did,” said Jones. “It seems on Pine Island, there’s never a time of need when you don’t find neighbor helping neighbor. A good Samaritan is always at hand.”