The word Hero has been used to describe many of the Firefighters on that day. I’ve often thought that the word referred to someone who performed with focus and determination while under extreme conditions. Someone who put a greater good above the immediate pressure of the moment. Someone who had a unique mixture of courage, bravery, compassion and fortitude. None can doubt that all these virtues were in abundance that day. Yet try though we may, it is difficult to understand what those people went through.
As with anyone who seeks to understand, I must start with what I know to travel where I must go. I have been with the Efland Volunteer Fire Department for 10 years. This year is the Department’s 30th anniversary of serving the community. Donating time saves the community hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and while an all volunteer department will end someday as the demands increase beyond a volunteer capacity, it is important to remember that all firefighters, paid and volunteer, make a choice to serve. No one ever became a firefighter for the money. And yet there are few who are as rich as the firefighter. There are few who get such a reward for doing a job that most don’t want to do.
We run just under 400 calls per year. We meet for training 2-4 times a month. We have left our families on Christmas Day as the presents were being opened to go fight a fire. We have been awakened in the middle of the night to go to a fire where people died. And then we go to work the next day, and must perform our jobs in order to feed our loved ones. No one cuts you any slack because you did a job that no one wants to do. We go to accidents and see images that haunt us for months. When bad weather strikes, we are all the community has until the roads are cleared. Yet when you get one lane of a road open, you have to fight the cars to get the whole road open for everyone because a few are in such a hurry to get somewhere. No doubt these are the same people who won’t pull over and extend their trip by 15 seconds so we can go help someone. We get yelled at and cursed out by people at a time when everyone is maximally stressed out, yet we must maintain our composure. We are asked to make split second decisions, and are held accountable for these decisions. We do so despite the fact that others will analyze our decision with the benefit of hindsight and days of analysis, and then condemn us for the choices we had to make in a matter of minutes. Yet just like everyone involved on that day in September, the only bad decision is no decision.
We get up at 5 in the morning a few times a month because the same person burns breakfast and sets off the smoke detector. We have no authority to work on a long term solution for this problem, yet when budgets are tight fire response is the 1st thing the politicians cite as being harmed. I’ve never heard the county and town governments threaten to stop having meetings due to money problems. We’ve had revenue increases turned down by the county while citizens’ yell at us for not having more resources to help them. We volunteer 100-400 hours per person per year, yet many of us have a second job so we can make ends meet. For every minute of “made for TV” excitement, there is an hour of training, preparedness, clean up, and paperwork. Like most worthwhile endeavors in life, the tedium and diligence dwarf the moments of action and results.
It sounds like a thankless job. Yet despite all this, there is no question that there is no calling more noble that that of the Firefighter. The tedium and diligence prepare you for the challenging moments. It allows us to keep our wits about us when others are in turmoil. When we are called to serve, someone somewhere might be at one of the lowest points of their life. They are overwhelmed by a bad situation that is beyond their capacity to resolve. While we champion and celebrate independence in this country, there are times when we realize that we must pull together to overcome adversity. By combining the diverse skills of each person with resources of the community we create a unique entity. An oxymoron that describes this is a “Group of Individuals”.
In the picture on the stamp, we see firefighters dressed in the same style of turn out gear. Yet like the picture, when we respond to help our citizens we respond with a collection of people each of which lend their skills towards solving the problem at hand. Sane men do not undertake risk without the possibility of reward. Firefighters undertake risk for the simplest and most fulfilling of all rewards. When we come together during adversity to help our fellow man there is a satisfaction that is clearly felt by all. We also realize that it is only through the charitable act of helping others that we stand any chance of helping and redeeming ourselves. There is a fellowship and satisfaction that comes from this endeavor that is unique.
I hope this gives everyone here today a glimpse into our world. The people who died on that fateful day were indeed heroes. But we lack the word to describe their daily routine in which they are “Quiet Heroes”. We must understand that they undertook risk for the most noble of all causes. We must realize that they are defined by the lives they led as much as a single tragic day. We lack the word to describe the daily quest to serve and help our fellow man undertaken by thousands across the country. This stamp shows three individuals working in a group as part of team, just like thousands nationwide. We honor their spirit, dedication, and sacrifice. I hope when others see this stamp, they will see individuals who represent the best in us all. Maybe we don’t lack the word to describe the daily commitment I’ve talked about today. Perhaps the word we seek is “Firefighter.”
Peter D. Hallenbeck
Asst. Chief, Efland
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