Sometimes life comes full circle. When I was a kid, one of my favourite TV shows was Emergency!
The show, which ran from 1972 to 1977, featured two paramedics, John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe) and their weekly adventures as paramedics with Station 51 of the Los Angeles fire department.
When I wasn’t watching the show, I would go to our garage/storage shed, and climb up the stacked up apple boxes pretending I was making my way up a skyscrapper, a canyon, or one of countless other structures in an attempt to rescue an injured citizen.
On Sept. 9, I just about had the chance to relive my childhood fantasy when the Barrhead Fire Department invited me to a demonstration put on by WFR Wholesale Fire &Rescue Ltd. and their new aerial ladder made by Pierce Manufacturing.
Luckily for me, I truly didn’t have the opportunity to climb the truck’s ladder.
One of the things I have learned about myself since my childhood back on the orchard is that I have a strong fear of heights. Believe it or not, a 107-foot aerial truck ladder is much taller than a stack of unused wooden apple boxes.
Plus, fear of heights or not, I’m not sure I would have had the stamina to make it up the ascent and it would have been more than slightly embarrassing having to have the fire department come and rescue me off a piece of emergency equipment.
All that being said, I hope the fire department is successful in its attempt acquire an aerial truck.
In the year or so that I have been in Barrhead, much of the discussion from all parties has focused on the building of a new aquatic centre. Rightfully so, it is an important decision which will affect area residents for decades to come.
However, as a decision on the aquatic centre quickly comes to a resolution, both Barrhead town and county councils along with their residents will begin to think about other issues, which are equally important.
I hope a new aerial truck is among the topics people begin to discuss. As I have mentioned in previous columns and editorials, emergency services personnel have always held a special place in my heart.
As an amateur radio operator, who has been active in emergency communications, I have had a few opportunities to work with people in emergency services and they always amaze me, not only of their professionalism, but their passion and dedication to safety of their communities.
Not to single out any service above the others, but firefighters are especially dear to me, for the very fact the large majority of them are volunteers. In Alberta 75 per cent of all firefighters are volunteers. People just like you and me, are often called upon to put themselves at risk to save others. And if these people say they need an aerial truck to do their job and keep themselves and others safe, it is something we all should seriously consider.
