Ed Bailey's gold-plated Alachua County Fire Rescue badge sat over his heart and gleamed under the lights of the meeting room at the Alachua County Administration building downtown.
Bailey, chief of ACFR, and the Alachua County Commission honored about 50 law enforcement, public safety and communications officials Tuesday morning for their work during the Interstate 75 accidents on Jan. 29. The wrecks claimed 11 lives and sent 21 to the hospital.
Bailey said the wrecks were the worst he had ever seen in his 36 years in public safety.
Some in the room were law enforcement and public safety officials who responded to the accident scene. That day, officers, firefighters and paramedics were blinded by the smoke from a nearby brush fire and guided only by victims' screams.
Others were dispatchers who advised frantic callers while trying to process what was happening on the other end of the line.
"It's one thing to go on a call and respond to emergencies like a vehicle accident or a heart attack," Bailey said. "But it is another to go to an incident where nature is working against you."
The Alachua County Sheriff's Office Combined Communications Center dispatchers were lifelines that night, he said.
