The scary-long link worked for me when I copied and pasted instead of clicking. I do love that song and hadn't listened to it in a long time. Thanks for reminding me!
My father has been a member of the volunteer fire department in my hometown my entire life. Fortunately, our department has never had a line-of-duty death. But any line-of-duty death still hits close to home.
I grew up in the suburbs of New York City. My father, and many of the members of the department, headed straight to the firehouse on 9-11, not expecting to have to respond to the scene, but standing by in case mutual aid calls cascaded that far north. At the time, one of their newer firefighters was a retired NYFD firefighter. Most of his Company responded to the World Trade Center on 9-11, and never came home.
My brother-in-law was an EMT w/ FDNY on 9-11. Worked a regular night shift, got home and fell into bed, and my sister called him and told him to turn on the TV. He went straight back in and worked straight through something like 72 hours before he got a break.
The mutual-aid thing was something I never really thought about, but now that I'm working with a department w/ 24 members I'm much more conscious of the interdependence between area fire departments. It was impressive to see all the firefighters and the blocks-long line of tankers who responded to our downtown fire.
My father is a member of the Madison N.H. Volunteer Fire Dept. and also took the EMT certification they offered. If and when they actually get a fire it is his job to drive the water trucks. Most of the calls he gets are medical.
About once every few months we hear a call over the radio that there will be a memorial service. Sometimes it is for longstanding firefighters who died of old age. Sometimes it is for firefighters who died too young.
It's interesting how the calls kind of ebb and flow. It was really slow for my first few weeks, and I was starting to think it was going to be a challenge to come up w/ new content for the website. Then we had something like 11 calls in three days. Yikes!
I've thought about EMT training... years ago, I had my Medic First Aid cert (somewhere in between Advanced First Aid and First Responder), and my day job is going to update my CPR/A.E.D. training, which will at least get me current on the very basics.
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Thank you for posting this.
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I grew up in the suburbs of New York City. My father, and many of the members of the department, headed straight to the firehouse on 9-11, not expecting to have to respond to the scene, but standing by in case mutual aid calls cascaded that far north. At the time, one of their newer firefighters was a retired NYFD firefighter. Most of his Company responded to the World Trade Center on 9-11, and never came home.
My thoughts are with Muncie tonight.
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The mutual-aid thing was something I never really thought about, but now that I'm working with a department w/ 24 members I'm much more conscious of the interdependence between area fire departments. It was impressive to see all the firefighters and the blocks-long line of tankers who responded to our downtown fire.
Reply
About once every few months we hear a call over the radio that there will be a memorial service. Sometimes it is for longstanding firefighters who died of old age. Sometimes it is for firefighters who died too young.
Reply
I've thought about EMT training... years ago, I had my Medic First Aid cert (somewhere in between Advanced First Aid and First Responder), and my day job is going to update my CPR/A.E.D. training, which will at least get me current on the very basics.
Reply
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