I went to a retirement dinner for a good guy. He worked at our downtown station for 30 years. It was a multiple unit firehouse and he always made sure he was on the rig getting the most runs. Usually our union does large combined retirement dinners, but due to legal costs over the last year money is no longer available. This dinner was put on by people he worked with over the years. He was involved in some great rescues and when he realized he could not do the job the way he felt it needed to be done, he called it quits. He told the guys he did not want to be a burden on the rest of his crew. He, like so many of us, was injured numerous times at both fires and rescues. Lots of backs and shoulders have taken hits at EMS calls, something most non-fire people do not realize.

Talking to the retired folks and those still working, one theme came through. In the last 10 years how did we go from being heros to being vilified by govenments and the press? We do the same job, work harder now due to staffing cuts, and yet public safety has been painted as causing all the economic woes of government. What is really crazy is the same politicians who were there 10 years ago, who negotiated the contracts, took no heat at all.

Everything is cyclic, so I have hope for the future, hang in there.  Things will get better.