My support for our Fire Service and Firefighters
Does anyone else have the same problem that I have? Sitting outside in the lovely warm May sunshine I overheard a couple discussing the pay increase that the fire fighters want. They spoke of the many nights that maybe the men and women of the fire brigade don’t get a call to attend either a fire or a bad accident on the motorways. They also took great delight in saying how they spend so much of their time just going around checking fire hydrants and possibly getting an old ladies cat out of a tree. To all this I said nothing. Not a word. I sat quietly on my seat in the sun and fumed.
Why is it that people like this couple never put their brains into gear before they open their mouths. They sit in their safe comfortable worlds never doing anything to endanger themselves but love to criticise the brave men and women that we all seem to forget about, until we need them.
How many of us wives kiss our husbands goodbye in the morning knowing that there is a good chance they will risk their lives that day by walking into a burning building to save the life of a man, woman or child. They have even risked their lives to save a family pet. We see our fire fighters attending motorway accidents lifting the bodies of babies out of their car seats and laying them out on the ground praying for a sign of life from their limp little bodies. When we had the terrorist bombings in London, who did we rely on to go deep underground to help bring out the survivors and then the bodies, without even knowing if there were more bombs down there. And yes, when an old lady living alone with just her cat for company finds it stuck up a tree, who does she call, yes, that’s right, the Fire Brigade and all they ask is a cup of tea in return.
I hope none of these terrible tragedies happen to the couple I was eavesdropping to, but if they do leave the chip pan on by mistake tonight and it catches fire, I wonder who they will call to save their homes and belongings and maybe even their lives. I also think that it is time that people like myself stopped being the silent majority and spoke up for a change and gave our wonderful men and women of the fire service the recognition they so rightly deserve
