What is a fireman?

He is the guy next door - a man's man with the memory of a little boy. He has never gotten over the excitement of engines and sirens and danger.

He is a guy like you and me with wants and worries and unfulfilled dreams.

Yet he stands taller than most of us.

He is a fireman.

He puts it all on the line when the bell rings.

A fireman is at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of men.

He is a man who saves lives because he has seen too much death.

He is a gentle man because he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control.

He is responsive to a child's laughter because his arms have held too many small bodies that will never laugh again.

He is a man who appreciates the simple pleasures of life - hot coffee held in numb, unbending fingers - a warm bed for bone and muscle compelled beyond feeling - the camaraderie of brave men - the divine peace and selfless service of a job well done in the name of all men.

He doesn't wear buttons or wave flags or shout obscenities.

When he marches, it is to honor a fallen comrade.

He doesn't preach the brotherhood of man.

He lives it.

Author unknown

Unsung Heroes

The hours are hard and so is the job,
But I'd give it all so you wont sob.
To save your house, your life, your children,
I'll risk it all to enter the building.
Each day I leave my wife and child
To respond to the number that you dialed,
But if I go and do not live,
Please remember all we give.

IF I COULD DESCRIBE A HERO
AND YOU'D ASK ME WHAT IT WOULD BE?

A FIREMAN I WOULD ANSWER AND THIS IS WHY YOU SEE

THEY GO INTO A FIRE NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL.
THEY DO NOT HESITATE ONCE, AFTER YOU HAVE PLACED THAT CALL

FORGETTING ABOUT THEMSELVES AND DOING WHAT THEY LOVE AND KNOW
THIS IS NOT AN ACT NOR IS IT A SHOW

THEY WILL RACE DEEP WITHIN THE HEART OF A FIRE WE CALL THE BEAST
TO THEM BEATING IT IS THEIR ULTIMATE FEAST

TO THEM THIS IS THEIR JOB AND WHAT THEY LIKE TO DO
BUT I BELIEVE THIS IS WHERE THE UTMOST RESPECT IS DUE

RESPECT IS WHAT THEY DESERVE FROM EVERYONE ALL THE TIME
NOT JUST WHEN THEY LOOSE A BROTHER WHILE FIGHTING THAT FRONT LINE

FOR ALL THAT HAVE COME TO PAY THEIR RESPECT WHICH IS GREATLY DUE
JUST GO HOME AND THINK WHAT A FIREMAN MEANS TO YOU

THEY DO NOT RESPECT YOU PART OF THE TIME
OR ELSE THEIR LIVES THEY WOULD NOT LAY ON THE LINE

SO THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE A FIREMAN THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
TELL THEM THEY ARE LOVED AND GIVE THEM THE RESPECT THEY ARE DUE

THIS COMES TO YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART
I WANT ALL YOU FIREFIGHTERS TO KNOW MY LIFE YOU ARE A PART

I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST AND HOPE YOU'LL ALL STAY SAFE
I KNOW AT LEAST IN MY HEART YOU ALL HAVE A SPACE

LOVE YOU GUYS

"I Wish You Could Know" 

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children at 3AM, 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 6 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 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 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 past
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, squad, 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 daughter, sister, my
girlfriend or a friend? What were her parents reaction going to be when they 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 know how it feels dispatching officers, firefighters and EMT's out and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one answers
back or to here a bone chilling 911 call of a child or wife needing assistance. 

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 there 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 CPR done on him as they take him away in the Medic Unit. 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. 

* author unknown * 

Courtesy Of:

http://adoyle.com/ffpoem.htm#unsungheros

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