fire2

Everyday Hero's

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom
for trapped children at 3 A.M., flames rolling above your head, your
palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your
your weight as the kitchen below you burns.

I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 6 in the morning
as I check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none.
I start CPR anyways, hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively
it is too late. But wanting his wife and family to know everything
possible was done to try to save his life.

I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste
of soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your
turnout gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being
able to see absolutely nothing in dense smoke - sensations that
I've become too familiar with.

I wish you could understand how it feels to go to work in the
morning after having spent most of the night, hot and soaking
wet at a multiple alarm.

I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a building fire
" Is this a false alarm or a working fire? How is the building
constructed? What hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?"

Or to an EMS call, "What is wrong with the patient? Is it
minor or life - threatening? Is the caller really in distress or
is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun?"

I wish you could be in the emergency room as a doctor
pronounces the beautiful five - year old girl that I have been
trying to save during the past 25 minutes. Who will never go
on her first date or say the words, " I love you Mommy" again.

I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the
engine, squad, or my personal vehicle, the driver with his foot
pressing down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again and
again at the air horn chain, as you fail to yield the right-of-way
at an intersection or in traffic.

When you need us however, your first comment upon our
arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!" I wish you
could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage
years from the remains of her automobile. " What if this was
my sister, my girlfriend or a friend? What were her parents
reaction going to be when they opened the door to find a
police officer with hat in hand?"

I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door
and greet my parents and family, not having the heart to
tell them I nearly did not come back from the last call.
I wish you could know how it feels dispatching an officer,
fireman and EMT out and when we call for them and our
heart drops because on one answers back or to hear a bone
chilling 911 call of a child or wife needing assistance.
I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally, and some-
times physically, abuse us or belittle what I do, or as they express
their attitudes of " It will never happen to me. "I wish you could
realize the physical, emotional and mental drain or missed meals,
lost sleep and forgone social activities, in addition to all the
tragedy my eyes have seen.

I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of
Helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being
able to be There in time of crisis, or creating order from total
chaos. I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a
little boy tugging at your arm and asking, "Is Mommy okay?"
Not even being able to look in his eyes without tears from your
own and not knowing what to say, Or to have to hold back a
long time friend who watches his buddy having rescue breathing
done on him as they take him away in the ambulance. You know
all along he did not have his seat belt on. A sensation that I have
become too familair with.

Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never
truly understand or appreciate who I am, who we are, or
what our job really means to us...I wish you could though.

Author Unknown...

Pass this on to everyone you know and keep sending it on.
Appreciate and support the local EMS workers, FIREFIGHTERS,
and LAW ENFOREMENTS OFFICERS in your area. One day
they'll probably be saving your property or your own life. When
you see them coming with lights flashing, move out of the way
quickly, then Pray For Them....

TO MY LILAC ROSE OF A HAND

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