So Colorado
Springs has another fire burning just short of a year after the Waldo Canyon
fire, the Black Forest fire is in its third day. Yesterday I spent over four
hours just driving alongside the fire; I’d stop and watch or awhile then drive
to the next vantage point and watch again.
I had many
mixed feelings, as a retired fireman I wanted so bad to be part of the fire,
working it, fighting it, drawn to it. At the same time I knew of at least 2
firefighters that had lost their homes and that my Ex’s home and her others
homes were in the fire zone. My children are evacuated and I don’t know where
they are I only know they are safe and that’s enough.
I have
lived in Colorado my whole life and as a fireman I know that there is a trade
off in having the natural beauty that is Colorado all around you and knowing
that at any time that same beauty can become a nightmare, as it is right now. As
I write this the morning air is so heavy with smoke I feel like I’m at the scene
of a good worker.
My eyes are
burning, my lungs feel a little heavy and my nose will not stop running. Feels good!
Crazy right? But that is the mind of a firefighter we love this shit we live
for it, and that is what makes me sad because all I can do is watch like a normal
person and I don’t feel like a normal person under these conditions.
I saw a
firefighter I used to work with and he told me my name had come up around the
coffee table the other day.
“Oh great.”
I said.
See my book
got me on a lot of people’s shit list and I have been kicked around pretty good
for it. So when I hear that my name came up at a fire station I think another
game of kick TimO around has been played and that’s okay, but that isn’t what
he had to say.
“No TimO we
didn’t kick you around in fact I’m glad I ran into you because I wanted to tell
you that actually we were taking about the fact that they don’t make
firefighters like you anymore. That people remember you as one hell of a good
fireman and you are missed.” He said. His house burned to the ground yesterday.
My heart
was warmed by his statement. I loved being a fireman and I like to think I did
it well and I like to think maybe I had something to share with the guys that
came up behind me. His comment also reminded me how much the fire service has
changed in just the few years I did it.
In the
early days of my career after maybe 10 years or so in, the officer I worked with
at that time was a good ole country boy from Kansas and Dave gave me a lot of
rope, he didn’t hold my reins as tight as many others had, he let me lose. When
we got a job a good worker we kind of knew what we both needed to do.
“Go to
work!” was pretty much his favorite command.
God if an
officer tried that one today they would be brought up on charges and demoted in
most departments. Those were different days, but man did you learn some stuff
that might be hard to come by today, a true test by fire.
Many times
I acted alone, I remember fighting my way down into a basement fire, it was so
freaking hot at the top of the staircase, but it got better at the first
landing and then I stepped into knee deep water. It was hot enough that the
copper water lines had melted and come apart and they were spraying water
everywhere but on the fire.
I put out
the fire followed my hoseline back to the staircase and got out. Dave asked if
it was out I said yes and he said.
“Took you
long enough. I thought I was gonna have to get in there and help and you and
you know how I hate to have to do that.”
That was as
close as Dave got to giving a compliment, but for you.
No way
could a firefighter get away with that behavior today. Don’t get me wrong,
there are many firefighters that can and probably do the exact same thing
today. They just have to do it without any bugle knowing they did it or have an
officer like Dave around and those are hard to find.
Maybe it
was that kind of firefighting he was talking about I don’t know. But it was
nice to hear anyway, thanks to whoever it was that remembered me and remembered
I was a good fireman, that’s enough for today as I watch the smoke build up
again and see the winds kicking up.
Everyone
tells us to be safe out there, well my brothers and sisters I know you’ll be
safe out there. I say have some fun out there, take a picture or two, burn it
into your memories and maybe someday, somewhere a firefighter will tell you,
they don’t make em like you anymore. God bless.
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