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and EMT's around the World |
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 I wish you
could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children,
flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl,
the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns.
I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 3 in the morning as I check
her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start CPR anyway,
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 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 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 dead the beautiful
five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the last 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 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 he 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 that I nearly did not come back from
the last call. I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally,
and 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 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 here 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 familiar with. |
| Unless you
have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly Understand or appreciate
who I am, we are, or what our job really means to us... |
I wish you could though. |
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| If any of this sounds familiar, think twice before you belittle those dedicated to preserving the lives of others. For someday it may be you or someone you love needing their services. And they will be there. |
Fire Safety Begins with U |
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