Thankful for first-responders
BUG GUTS & BEAUTY
By Orpheus Allison
October is an interesting month. It dances around the temperature grid like some madcap fool tap dancing on water. It can be beautiful and warm, beautiful and cold, or some combination of the many.
Because it is the month when furnaces are awakened and houses sealed up it gains a bit of a reputation for the catastrophes that come in the winter months.
Fumes and fires cause all sorts of problems for people. The squirrels built a nest next to the junction box and while they are enjoying the entertainment of arcing sparks the house begins to glow. Or, birds decided that tall chimney was perfect protection for a passel of young’uns and build their home over the vent from the furnace. Or, the house has that one cold room that needs some extra heat and a space heater finds gainful employment heating the space and carbonizing the rest.
Fighting all this is an intrepid bunch of ordinary folk. They are not heroes most of the time. They put in the hours on jobs and work that pays the bills. They worry about their kids in school; their parents in the home or hospital; their loved ones traveling back and forth on the highway. It takes one short call for help to turn these quiet, modest types into the Superman Heroes we all would like to be.
Today we call them First Responders. They are the ones who 365 (366 in leap years) days a year; morning, noon, and night defend the community from the fury of flames and calamity that plague us all. They used to be called Volunteers. In time a few of them turn their obsession to defend the hearth into employment subject to the community funding the position.
Bleak and threatening as the situation is you will find these heroes stepping forward into the fray. Tenacious and determined not to let unfurled flames burn the community to the ground they defend the homes. They defend and aid the ill and near ill who make a panicked call in the wee hours of the morning. They proudly but quietly wear the stars and bars on their shoulder; willing to risk life, limb, and love to make their community a better place, a safer place. These are the Volunteers.
As October winds down and the jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treaters, and harvesters parade through our streets, the volunteers remain alert to trouble. They stand ready to fight to the last man or woman for you and I to have a safe slumber for tomorrow. They are always looking for a few good citizens. yet they remain humble and quiet until that moment when the call goes out.
Blizzard, thunderstorm, cold, or flu they step forward to confront danger. When the day ends they go about their business so the rest of us may be thankful there is a tomorrow to welcome us. These are the First Responders and they deserve our praise.
Orpheus Allison is a photojournalist living in The County who graduated from UMPI and earned a master of liberal arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his journalism career at WAGM television later working in many different areas of the US. After 20 years of television he changed careers and taught in China and Korea.
