"I Wish You Could Know"

WTFD

Member
May 21, 2010
28
Indiana
Thought I would share this with my fellow responders out there.... I did NOT write this, I saw it on a fire departments website but thought it was worth passing on because it really hits home.


"I Wish You Could Know"


I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for


trapped children at 3AM, flames rolling above your head, your palms and


knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the


kitchen below you burns.


I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 6 in the morning as I check


her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start CPR anyway,


hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late. But wanting


his wife and family to know everything possible was done to try to save his life.


I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of


soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout gear,


the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being able to see absolutely


nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've become too familiar with.


I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a building fire "Is this a


false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What hazards


await me? Is anyone trapped?" Or to call, "What is wrong with the patient?


Is it minor or life-threatening? Is the caller really in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun?"


I wish you could be in the emergency room as a doctor pronounces dead the


beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the past


25 minutes. Who will never go on her first date or say the words, "I love you Mommy" again.


I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the engine


or my personal vehicle, the driver with his foot pressing down hard on the


pedal, my arm tugging again and again at the air horn chain, as you fail to


yield the right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic. When you need us


however, your first comment upon our arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!"


I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage years


from the remains of her automobile. "What if this was my daughter, sister, my


girlfriend or a friend? What were her parents reactions going to be when they


opened the door to find a police officer with hat in hand?"


I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and greet my


parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did not


come back from the last call.


I wish you could know how it feels dispatching officers, firefighters and


EMT's out and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one answers


back or to here a bone chilling 911 call of a child or wife needing assistance.


I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally, and sometimes physically,


abuse us or belittle what I do, or as they express their attitudes of, "It will never happen to me."


I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain or missed


meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in addition to all the


tragedy my eyes have seen.


I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save


a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in time


of crisis, or creating order from total chaos.


I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy tugging


at your arm and asking, "Is Mommy okay?" Not even being able to look in his


eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say. Or to have to


hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having CPR done on him as


they take him away in the Medic Unit. You know all along he did not have his


seat belt on. A sensation that I have become too familiar with.


Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand


or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really means to us......


I wish you could though.
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
i've read a military version of this somewhere.
 

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