A lot of the new personnel with Dawson County Emergency Services are too young to remember a time when calls were dispatched by telephone and those responding had to read the chalkboard at the stations to find out where to find the fire.

"Unless you lived in a [different] time, it's hard to appreciate what you've got today," said Chief Lanier Swafford.

On Sunday, stories about fire and emergency services of yesteryear will be brought back to life when personnel from as far back as the department's formation gather for what can only be described as a family reunion.

"Because at the end of the day, that's what we are. We're family. You spend a third of your life with these people and they become like brothers and sisters, so we're going back as far as the day when the funeral home ran the ambulance service," Swafford said.

More than 225 former and current emergency workers have been invited to the party that will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Veterans Memorial Park's gym.

"We know we're going to miss some folks so we're trying to reach out. If you've not been contacted, we may have overlooked you, but it was unintentional. We'd love for you to come out and be part of the event," Swafford said.

"We want to invite everybody back. It doesn't matter if you volunteered for six months. You might have run one significant call and done something that was important in those six months and we want to recognize you for it and say thank you for it."

For more information, call Swafford at (706) 344-3666.