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What have they done for you?
We all read, on here, and in the media about what fire depts, EMS and even the police do for the public. What I'm interested in reading about is:
What has your town/city/village done for you as a dept? For example, do citizens do something for you at the holidays, have you had experiences with the public providing cold/hot drinks at a fire scene, etc. . .? It would be interesting to hear what the public does for the fire and EMS service.
What has your town/city/village done for you as a dept? For example, do citizens do something for you at the holidays, have you had experiences with the public providing cold/hot drinks at a fire scene, etc. . .? It would be interesting to hear what the public does for the fire and EMS service.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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"do citizens do something for you at the holidays" You must be kidding!
Now this one "experiences with the public providing cold/hot drinks at a fire scene"? Definitely -when something is going wrong, they remember us and are very hospitable!
Now, do I expect anything from the public? Not really. But it's always nice when they say 'thank you' in the street when they recognise the uniform.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Mainly, what the public does is call us when they need assistance. They also fund us through the tax base, and about 40% contribute additional money during our fund drive.
We're a wholly self-contained unit; members fight fire or whatever, others bring food and refreshments. We really don't need any help with this.
Speaking personally, from a volunteer perspective: I didn't get into the business to be recognized or put in the spotlight; I joined to do the job, period. We've been offered picnics, parties, and the like and each time we as a department have declined.
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Permalink Reply by LT Lake on
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There have been the cups of coffee and water offered here and there even though we have plenty of refreshments we bring along on the truck. There have been a few time they have gone out of there way.
Every spring the Benoit community center has a fund raiser dinner and everyone on the department gets an invitation for them self and one guest to come eat for free. One other one that sticks in my mind is a couple months back we got called in for mutual aid by the next town over for a restaurant that was on fire. The call came in about 5 pm and we were there for almost 4 hours when things started winding down. An owner from the restaurant down the street came over with pitchers of ice water and coffee then a little while later he had a couple trays full of cheese burgers.
Then there is the extra generosity every time we have a fund raiser. Most of the ones that give extra do so every year. When someone has a fire or medical emergency and they feel compelled to do so we see their generosity at the fund raiser as well or if we don’t have a fund raiser that time of year we will see a thank you card with a donation in it.
They all know we don’t expect anything just a simple thank you would be enough.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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1. We've had people bring out cold cans of pop (soda) to our rehab section at house fires.
2. After 9/11 we had several people stop by both stations and bring home baked goodies. Although now they've all forgotten.
3. At the annual 4th of July festival, uniformed Firefighters & Cops usually don't get charged by the food vendors.
That's about all I can think of at the moment. Stay safe!
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Permalink Reply by FF Schoen on
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In my community a church last year held a 9-11 service for the local PD and FD. It was quite nice to attend. They made us a nice lunch and called us their "Heroes" in which all we really are is people with a job to get done. We aren't looking for glory, it was just nice that the community came up with that for us. Other than that a Thank you is heard every now and then. But again I say we aren't looking for praise, we just do whats needed to get done.
FF Schoen
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly A Bownas on
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You know, I don't do this job for the community to do something for me, I do this to help the community that I have grown up in and want to help protect. the community supports us by coming out for the fundraisers that we do and all the other events that we put on. I have seen people that i have helped out on the street and they have said "thank you for everything you did for me" and that is all that I need. A simple thank you....
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Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on
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For many years an older early 60's lady would stop by,"occasionally" once a month or soand deliver a plate of home made cookies or brownies or some "treats" Now To be honest, I was always a bit suspicious , because These days you can never be too sure what the intention might be, You know (sad as it is to think that way... well, after a few years and with no ill effects by anyone, I personally became more accepting .. on a few occasions around or nearing the holidays , we thought we'd like to show our gratitude bydoing "something" for this lady if only to replenish her pantry.... She told us the story, one day that she and her 7 year old daughter were baking for the up coming Christmas Holidays when her daughter gother hand caught in the mixer (somehow) and mangled it pretty good, she unplugged the machine and tryed but no matter wghat she tryed the girl screamed bloody murder, so she called the fire department and of course they responded and eventually were able to disentangle her for the most part, and well, as I understood it she lost use of two fingers for quite a few years nearly servering them and well it wasnt nice.. she spent christmas in the Hospital as thiswas a couple days before and on christmas day the guys visited her, and brought a couple presents...Now again this had to be in the late 50's or early 60's when it happened , and the lady was so grateful that she did this cookie thing religiously until about 2003 when she became nursing home bound. I am ashamed to admit that I never had the chance to visit her before she passed shortly after... lets think of it this way, IF the accident happened in 1964 she baked aproximately 480 batches of cookies or brownies or what have you figure an hour at least to make a batch from scratch, twenty premixed, but then add in paper plates or disposabe plates, wrapping em both time and wrap, cost of gas although it was only a block away over 40 years ,,lol Just something to think about...Not something many people do these days .... On the other hand, for a very long time after the world trade center attacks people in the street did often approach us and say thanks, an new respect was shown in a less then cordial inner city environment people from all walks of life seemed to give us a bit more respect, area bit freindlier and more mindful of our suggestons,, Many of the school kids who not so long ago were as apt to have a rock ready to throw at us passing by are now apt to be seen... waving..
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Permalink Reply by anne potter on
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Naw our town would like to shut us down... They have the village of Antwerp and the hamilt of Oxbow they pay for services for ..Always crying no money.. So every year they blat about no money.. 16,000 is what we get.... Once in awhile at a structure you will have the family trying to provide,but we have a ladies Aux and they come with us to all big fire so they usally provide...Just a simple thank you from the passing citizen at times..,but that is ok... I'm still going to be there when the siren blows.. Because this job like I said before is a special breed,and well I'm part of it .. Don't need a thanks just waiting for the siren to blow...
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Permalink Reply by Firefighter Nation WebChief on
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FYI, I removed the discussion that was about an individual user. Please keep topics on the topic and not each other. If you've got a problem with a user contact them directly and debate them privately -- or report the post to me directly so I can deal with it -- or IGNORE it.
Thanks
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Permalink Reply by Walter on
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around christmas a local church usually comes up on a monday night and brings a full catered dinner for my department. but like most everyone i dont do this to get recognized i do this to help out. alot of people thank us after responding to a call at there house alot are also surprized when they have the whole department show up for a call whether it be CO or otherwise. but in parades i always have people thank us as we drive by. in closing let me ask this has anyone ever had a tax increase passed usuallly larger then normal to get new equipment or build a firehouse that is probably the main way they can thank us.
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Permalink Reply by Pam Payson on
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More than once we have had our community bring us hot or cold drinks, even if our auxiliary is there providing beverages and food. Community businesses have donated breakfast pizza for those early morning calls to make sure we're fed and have coffee. I know in our community, which is probably smaller than most, we have great support. Even some of the older retired chiefs that now spend their days ramming the roads to hobknob with their buddies will come out and fill our SCBA bottles. Back in February one of our full-time FF/medics was returning home from a call late at night and was hit head-on by a driver at over 80 mph. This shook our department severely, but we did our job, extricated him and delivered him to Lifeflight. We immediately started fundraisers and the community local and as distant as California showed an unimaginable amount of support both personally and financially. We still have folks asking how he is and when he'll return to work. Holidays are always fattening around here. Folks bake stuff and drop it off. When church suppers have left overs, they bring enough goodies for the duty crew. So I guess we are very blessed here with a caring community
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