THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607270202
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 79 lines
When John C. Holland Sr. died nearly three years ago, the 75-year-old Portsmouth native left to his family money, property, businesses and a mansion in the mountains of Virginia.
But to his son, John C. Holland Jr., the self-made man with a giving heart left a special legacy.
``I haven't done much since my father died,'' Holland said recently. ``But I remember what he always told me. As long as I have an income, he wanted me to keep doing a little something for other people.''
Recalling his father's wishes, Holland last week got into his pickup truck in Suffolk and followed a 1969 Howe pumper fire truck to a rural county in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
The fire truck is a gift from Holland to the people of Nelson County, now his second home. Holland, who operates a landfill in the Driver MISCELLANEOUS of Suffolk, spends half of his week in Hampton Roads and half at the family's Oak Ridge estate in Nelson County, near Charlottesville.
He purchased Oak Ridge in 1989 for $7 million. At the time, the mansion was almost in ruins, and the formal gardens overgrown. Since then, Holland has restored the mansion, which is rented for weddings and private parties. Several events, including a wine festival, are held annually on the grounds.
The effort to start an eighth volunteer fire department in the 475-square-mile county was begun by another Nelson County resident, John Heilmann, about two years ago, when his neighbor's house burned to the ground.
``I was the second person to arrive,'' Heilmann said. ``It took almost an hour for the first help to get there. By then, there was hardly anything left.''
Three fire companies from different areas of the county responded to the fire, Heilmann said. But the stations are so far away from Wingina, a tiny settlement on the James River, that there was no hope for the home by the time the firefighters arrived. That's when Heilmann decided to donate two acres of his land to start a local fire department.
Last April, fire swept through a forest in the same area, destroying 400 acres on Heilmann's property and more than 800 adjacent acres.
``It took us 20 hours to put it out with 400 or 500 people involved,'' Heilmann said. ``That situation lent a lot of weight to our problem.''
Since then, Heilmann and others have continued trying to establish a volunteer department. Six local residents have signed up, he said. Others have expressed an interest. Some already are in training.
But the volunteer fire departments in Nelson County get little help from the county government, said Tommy Harvey, a member of the Board of Supervisors and chief of the Rockfish Volunteer Fire Department.
The county pays a volunteer department's operating expenses and gives each department an additional $5,000 annually. Beyond that, it's up to individual departments to raise money for capital expenses like equipment.
And fire trucks don't come cheap.
``My department has one coming off the assembly line right now - $200,000,'' Harvey said.
The fire truck from Portsmouth, he said, ``could be the thing that helps boost this substation off the ground.''
Despite the age of the vehicle Holland purchased at a Portsmouth city auction in mid-June, the truck is in good mechanical condition. Holland said that the city of Portsmouth was nice enough to leave lights, hoses, sirens and ladders, which usually are removed when fire trucks are sold.
``I figured the first thing they needed up here was a fire engine if they were going to start a fire department,'' Holland said from his Nelson County estate. ``I followed one of my employees who drove it here. He was going 65 or 70 the whole way. There ain't nothing wrong with it.''
The fledgling volunteer company couldn't be more pleased, Heilmann said. The fire engine is being housed temporarily in Lovingston, near Oak Ridge. Heilmann said the next step is to raise about $40,000 for a building. That project is already underway.
``The fire company is just highly appreciative of Mr. Holland's having given us a truck,'' Heilmann said.
``Now, we can move on.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARK MITCHELL, The Virginian-Pilot
From left, John C. Holland Jr. shows off the 1969 pumper fire truck
to his relatives, Jo Ann Nesson, Marie Holland, Gayle Franklin and
Bill Tippett. The fire engine will help start a new volunteer fire
department in Nelson County. by CNB