12/25/2006 - A Firefighters "working" X-Mas

The purpose of this was not to ruin anybody’s day but to remind “some” that people do work this day and please be courteous to working men & woman on x-mas. We are giving up being with our kids and family to keep others safe - Some people do forget this and can be the worst people. (I’ll explain at the end of this message).

Some people do work on x-mas day. Being a firefighter it’s a way of life. This was not my first working holiday and it will “not” be my last. A few things did happen today………..on my 12 hr (6a-6p) shift.

We had approx. 10 fire runs today and in that time I lost 2 patients on scene of E.M.S. calls. I had to tell one husband that his wife would not make it through the night and another family that they should get to the E.R. ASAP. I responded to a house where the owners started a fire in the fireplace only to have it spread to the living room and lost the tree and most of the gifts before we got there and save what was left. This family really did not have resources to recoup quickly - which will be very hard on the kids.

So my x-mas was mostly spent seeing some of the worst case scenarios life can through at a person. Then go home and try to enjoy my night with my wife and kids. Thank God that I’m able to keep all this at work and not bring it home to my kids. They had a good night and now I sit and write this hoping that it might help me get rid of it (the way I’m feeling about x-mas today 2006).

Oh yes, going back to the first part about being courteous to public safety personnel working on holidays……While returning from the last call of the day, we had waiting at the fire station a homeowners group representative from a local subdivision saying that she was going to call the city on Tuesday to complain about the volume of our siren while we were driving through her subdivision. (it was the house we almost lost to the fire)…….How Funny it that - What a kick in the Jingle “Balls”.