Dear Editor,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank firefighters everywhere.
In addition to their “regular” job of putting out fires, they perform many tasks for which they go unnamed and underappreciated. I was a paramedic in British Columbia for years, where policy stated whenever there was an motor-vehicle collision, fire departments were called out to aid ambulance and police.
Often it is their skills which extricate the victims from the vehicles or secure the vehicles (disconnect batteries, etc., to prevent a worse situation). They stay to clean up the mess left by ambulance personnel in their rush to provide first aid. They control traffic so the paramedics could help the injured and police could conduct their investigations. They provide security to keep the scene safe for ambulance and police, and to keep bystanders out of the way.
Firefighters did whatever grunt work was asked of them without question, and cleaned the road of debris to make it safe for traffic. Long after the ambulance had taken the victims to hospitals, cleaned their units and returned to their station, the firefighters are often still at the scene doing whatever is needed, usually the last to leave.
You all deserve accolades for your actions. Thank you.
Fran Draper
