Alacheri Publishing,LLC
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Firefighterette Gillette
A Firefighter Who
Crashed & Burned
A Success Story
Introduction
Too many memories of the last 20 years are fading. Some are
nightmarishly clear, the memories of the dead ones, especially the
children. When I allow myself to think about them, I feel a lump developing
in my throat and the hair rising on my arms, so I don’t think about those
times, much less talk about them. Some nights, those memories wake me,
especially firehouse nights, and then I can’t get back to sleep. If I am not
awakened by their faces, then it is the alert that is waking me, mostly for
medical runs, but sometimes fires. The night runs are hardest on
firefighter hearts. Being wakened to burst into action all hours of the night
for 20 or 30 years sends a lot of us to an early grave.
Night runs are also hell on kidneys. We jump out of bed into boots and
night pants, get on the fire apparatus, and on the way to the run, realize
how bad we have to pee. This is a bigger problem for the women than the
men. The older guys can hardly buckle their night pants giving them a
head start on peeing. They rely on suspenders to hold up their unbuckled
pants.
Wow! Enough of the negative stuff, because you are going to think I don’t
like my job. I love my job! I feel lucky and privileged to have been a
professional firefighter in my lifetime. It also feels good to have my 20 on
and be eligible for retirement, although I probably won’t retire until my
husband has his 20 on, but maybe I will. Like Scarlett, I’ll decide that
tomorrow.
My handsome son, an adult now, was a baby when I was hired as a
firefighter. Recently he rode with my crew and me. After the frantic
excitement of barreling down the street with lights flashing and sirens
blaring, he witnessed our cool, calm, organized reaction to a flopping,
seizure patient on a store floor, where people were rushing out of the
building spluttering, “She’s crazy!"
The fire, which happened late that night, had flames leaping from every
window. He observed as we quickly doused the blaze. Getting involved in
the action, he helped pick up hose and met my chief.
Impressed, he decided he would like to follow in my footsteps.
“Oh my God, Mom, I never realized what you do!”
Anyway, I might be getting a little off track here. I should start at the
beginning. I should start with my decision to become a firefighter.
Find out the rest of this amazing story by purchasing your copy of
"Firefighterette Gillette"
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