Firefighters

I think most of us remember the horror of 9/11, the TV shots of two jetliners deliberately crashing into New York’s fabled Twin Towers, and shortly thereafter the sight of those great buildings falling to the city streets. In my case I’ll never forget the three hundred and forty three members of the Fire Department of New York who died while taking part in one of the most successful rescue efforts in history. Thousands of people, the total number numbers will never be known, owe their lives to those men. Wearing and carrying nearly a hundred of pounds of equipment each, they ran up smoky stairwells filled with hazardous fumes, looking for victims. They pulled trapped office workers out of the rubble and performed whatever emergency care they could give to the injured. Despite their best efforts, the scope of the disaster was too great. Ordered to evacuate, many remained behind helping even more people to escape. The towers finally collapsed, killing almost 3,000 people. Looking back on it all, nothing seems more heroic than what members of the New York Fire Department did that day. But the fact is that firefighters perform these sorts of heroic deeds every day, in every county and city across the nation, and around the world. Simply put, it's the firefighters job to put out fires, from outside, inside, or any way they can. Firefighters respond to a whole host of other emergencies as well. They are usually the first to arrive at car accidents, gas leaks, the sites of natural disasters, or when someone has taken ill or been injured.

Many years ago, a young Puerto Rican immigrant woman was told a bit about survival in New York City. “If you’re ever in trouble and desperately need help, pull the fire alarm box” she was advised. “If you call the police, they may or may not come. If you call the ambulance, they may or may not come. The firemen, they always come.” False alarms create many problems for firefighters, but I’d think this is a rather left-handed compliment to the greatest bunch of people in the world. Firefighters, volunteers, part timers, and full timers, structural, industrial, and wildland, both men and women, are a very special breed of people who, over time, generally view their occupation as a nearly holy calling rather than just a job, and are completely dedicated to their work. They have to be, since each call brings with it the threat of severe injury or even death. Uncommon valor is a very common trait among firefighters.

People join the department for any number of reasons, but they soon develop the intense trust and faith in their fellows, instincts needed when you deliberately ignore a natural fear of the red devil, to enter a burning building that’s quickly crumpling around you, dragging a fire hose while you search for a missing child. Who else but a firefighter would join his crewmates in closing on a raging forest fire, armed with little more than shovels, trying to save a total strangers property. If you don’t develop that trust, you won’t stay on the department for long.

Besides bravery and physical strength, firefighters need common sense and patience. In emergency situations, people depend on firefighters to stay calm and give clear directions. Firefighters must work quickly, but at the same time, they need to take into account numerous details--the color of smoke, the construction of the building, and the way the fire is burning--when deciding how to go about their jobs. This means that they have to know an enormous amount about how fires behave under different conditions, how the fire is likely to progress, and what techniques and materials they need to use to deal with it.

James Taylor is a former Fire Captain, and author of the 1969 essay “What is Fire Fighter?”, generally considered to be the definitive essay on firefighting. “A Fire Fighter is a lonely man holding a midmorning watch with book in hand and a telephone within a split seconds reach. A darkened apparatus floor, a complicated alarm system, now silent, but perhaps within the next blink of an eye or turn of a page will scream out with the clanging of bells, the turning of gears, and the ticking of tape. What is as Fire Fighter? He is years of constant training that must guide him in every move once that Great Silver Bell again must exact "Awake ye from your beds!" Your heavy resting hearts within the sigh of an awakening must now beat with the strength of an athlete, a fighter, for a fighter you are. A fire fighter is a man responsible for thousands of dollars of equipment, and for the lives of his fellowmen he knows he must protect. He is a man constantly studying for promotions, not content that as a private he already represents leadership in the community. For a young girl or boy there is no doubt who he is. Yes he was the one who found time to smile down at them. From the top of his protective helmet to the bottoms of his steel reinforced boots he appeared to be a giant, "Get back!" he shouted, as he strained to move hundreds of pounds of water-filled hose only to disappear into a hell of smoke and heat. Are you worried about your smoking habits? The fire fighter must now inhale the truly king size of them all, three stories high and filled with foreign and domestic sofas, carpets, paints, and woods. The Tolls are great among these men, greater than almost every other occupation. The rewards; long hours, working weekends and holidays. He gives up time with his own family for the sake and safeguard of those who see only the superficial man and not the superman that perhaps he is. For this he is if only in the heart and mind of a child not blinded by the isms of life, but instead opened by a tear as his floppy-eared puppy responds to the carefully applied artificial respiration given to it by a combination doctor, fire fighter, truck driver and yes, maybe a superman. Perhaps that tear is the fire fighter's reward. Someday he too may shed a tear for a fallen comrade, silently praying that his own last alarm will herald the end to a glorious career through retirement, and not through death or injury. What is a fire fighter? Ask the people that he has helped in times of fire, flood, plane, car and boat disasters, accidents through carelessness or in times of war. When others walk away the fire fighter must now take on the responsibilities of saving lives and property. A giant, a superman, a constant vigil for the prevention of fire. Oh, to have the eyes and faith of a child, If only grown-ups were so blessed, the fire fighter's life would be the richest on earth."

I had not intended to single out the FDNY, but they are the countries largest and busiest fire department. Even so, that same intense sense of duty is demonstrated in even the smallest volunteer department. The next time you see one of your local firefighters, remember to thank him for his unstinting service to your community.