A TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO SERVE TO KEEP US SAFE

I wish you could see the sadness of a business man as his livelihood

goes up in flames, or that family returning home, only too find their

house & belongings damaged or lost for good.

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom

for trapped children, flames rolling above your head, your palms & knees

burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight

as the kitchen below burns.

I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 3am as I check her

husband, of 40 years, for a pulse & find none. I start CPR anyway,

 hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late. But

wanting his wife & family to know everything possible was done

too try too save his life.

I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of

soot-filled mucous, 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 & soaking wet at

 multiple alarm fire.

                                     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

life-treating? 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

dead the beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying too 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 or my personal vehicle, the driver with his foot pressing

down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again & 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 arrival will be, "It took 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 are 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 & family, not having the heart to tell them that

 I nearly did not come back from the last call.

I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally, & sometimes

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 & mental

drain or missed meals, lost sleep & forgone social activities,

in addition to all my eyes have seen.

I wish you could know the brotherhood & self-satisfaction of

helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being

able to be there in time of a 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 & asking, "Is mommy okay?" Not

even being able to look in his eyes without tears from your

own & 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

familiar 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 mean us. I wish you could, though.

Appreciate & support the local volunteer fire firefighters, police

officer, & EMS workers in your area. One day they'll probably

 be saving your property or your own life.

~Author Unknown~

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