Fire Ball

All Lonnie Ball wanted to do that afternoon was his job. In this case, that meant cleaning the floor under the large red, white and blue fire truck parked in the Sheldon fire station house. Ball was busy sweeping out the fire house, and it was dirty underneath the $102,000 pumper truck.

The 28-year-old mentally challenged Sheldon resident and honorary firefighter had loved working with the Sheldon Community Fire and Rescue Department for nearly a decade. Department members referred to Ball as their “mascot,” and say he delighted in doing the chores nobody else cared for, like scrubbing down the bathrooms.

The firefighters had met Ball several years back when his now-deceased mother, in an effort to keep him out of trouble, asked if the firefighters would take Ball under their wing. They agreed.

“He’s like a little brother,” says Maejean Michal, the department’s chief administrator. “He’ll give you the shirt off his back. He’ll do anything to make you happy.”

Ball thrived in the fire department atmosphere. He thought of himself as one of the team whenever he donned the outdated firefighter’s coat and helmet the other members gave him. Although he wasn’t allowed to fight fires, “he was one of us,” says Cory Isenberger, district chief in the small community about 25 miles northeast of Houston.

But on December 17, Ball tried a little too hard to do his job just right at the fire station on Jones Road. Firefighters had warned him never to get into a fire truck by himself. Eager to sweep the entire floor, Ball climbed into the truck anyway in an attempt to pull it out into the driveway. Like most fire trucks, the pumper was set to operate on a battery switch instead of keys. Ball confused the brake and the accelerator. In a sudden rush, the truck slammed into reverse and rammed through the back wall.

The loud, crushing sounds brought firefighters running. The accident caused $12,000 in damage to the pumper, and the building was so weakened it would have to be demolished later. Ball climbed out of the truck, physically fine but emotionally scarred.

Ball recounts the story while sitting on the porch of the home that he shares with his sister. “I swear I started crying. I thought I was in trouble. I thought that they would take me to jail.”

Isenberger says Ball initially was upset in the way a ten-year-old would be.

“He was already in tears,” remembers the chief. “Scared to death. He knew he had messed up, but he didn’t want to be terminated.”

The job as honorary firefighter had meant everything to Ball, who had once run with a rough crowd.

“He was out with the wrong people, getting taken advantage of and getting into a lot of trouble,” says fire marshal David Paul. “But he’s a great kid.”

Chief Sidney Webb says it’s the great kid part that counts the most, not the accident. And so the department’s board voted February 11 to keep Ball on as an honorary firefighter — albeit with new rules.

“The members felt real strongly” about keeping Ball, says Webb. “It’s a fireman’s thing. It goes deep, like a brotherhood.”

According to Webb, Ball will keep his honorary title, but will be able to go to the fire station only with his legal guardian and a departmental escort. This means he’ll be spending less time there.

“We’re going to miss not seeing him around as much,” says senior firefighter Robert Moseley.

Insurance will cover only about $120,000 of the $200,000 needed to replace the station. The remaining $80,000 will have to be raised through donations. Several other local departments will help serve the Sheldon area until the new station is built.

This is the second time in less than a year that good deeds cost Sheldon Community Volunteer Fire and Rescue. During the two-day deluge of Tropical Storm Allison, the firefighters welcomed almost 2,000 flood victims into their northeast county station. But several of the rain-soaked walked off with special firefighter suits valued at around $1,500 apiece, says Webb. The Sheldon firefighters, who serve a community of approximately 30,000 people over 80 square miles, had to borrow equipment and hold fund-raisers to replace what was lost.

But Webb doesn’t think the Sheldon firefighters are saints for helping others.

“We just try to accommodate all of our community,” he says modestly.

When asked about the accident, Ball is quick to note, “I can still go up [to the firehouse]. I’m not in trouble.” He says he’s amazed that the incident has garnered media attention.

“I’m famous,” says Ball with a laugh. “Everybody wants my autograph. I’m serious.”