I wish you could see the sadness of a business man
as his livelihood goes up in flames, or that family
returning home, only too find their house and
belongings damaged or lost for good.

I wish you could know what it is like to search a
burning bedroom for trapped children, 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 3a.m.
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 understand how it feels to go to
work in the morning after having spent most of the
night, hot and soaking wet at a multiple alarm fire.

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 an
EMS 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 EMS 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 sister, my girlfriend or a
friend? What were her parents reaction 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 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 rescue breathing done on him as they take him away in the ambulance.
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.
-author unknown-

When I'm called to duty god
wherever flames may rage
give me strength to save a life
whatever be its age

Help me to embrace a little child
before it is too late
or save an older person from
the horror of that fate

Enable me to be alert
to hear the weakest shout
and quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out

I want to fill my calling and
to give the best in me
to guard my neighbour and
protect his property

And if according to your will
I have to lose my life
bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife