Had the thought today that I know a lot of dead people. I guess as we get older that is what happens. I ran into a new guy at a local drug store. He had on SJFD sweats so I introduced myself. When I told him I retired in 1998 his eyes got big. Our department has changed since then.  All new people and with the budget issues stations have closed and people have been laid off. When I came on the job in 1973, we had 28 stations with about 700 people. San Jose is a city of over 1,000,000 so we were short even then. Station 3 had an engine, hose wagon, another engine, truck, light unit and a battalion chief. Sixteen people. It was busy then. Now the same station has one engine and 4 people. It is still busy, more so as the number of runs has gone up.

The picture of the guys in Camden, NJ, turning in their equipment broke my heart. It just seems like the public safety sector is really getting slammed for the mismanagement of the bureaucrats. I know everything is cyclic. To those of you that have been around for a while, you know this will pass and for the new people, hang in there. This is the best job in the world and the public will be behind us again.