“Catching a Job”
I was sitting on the couch with my wife, daughters and Mozzy the Man when my personal and work cell phones rang simultaneously. Having spent most of my adult life as a firefighter / paramedic, I knew that this meant that “its time to go to work.” On this night, it was a wind driven fire, originating in a home under construction and spreading to occupied homes in a neighborhood south of town that beckoned. Crews were on scene fighting flames, high winds, low temperatures and a constant freezing mist generated by their hose streams that encased apparatus, equipment and firefighters. A second alarm had been struck, mutual aid requested & received, and Chief Officers called in for support, so off into the night I went. Continue Reading
g beam of my headlamp cut a dim swath through the inky blackness, making an already graduate level desent downright spooky at times. The horns and cape of a trophy bighorn ram added weight to my pack and purpose to this excursion. Soaked in sweat, despite the chill of the night air and fresh snow on the ground, I worked my way down off the mountain and into the grasp of chokingly thick willows.
When I made the left turn into the restaurant parking lot, the first thing I saw was a 5 year old girl dragging a garbage bag full of clothes. Close behind her was her younger brother with a similar bag and their mother pulling a beat up suitcase, with purpose, trying to get to the Rescue Mission “before it closed” for the night. After her husband took the car and abandoned them that day, the 3 of them gathered up all they had left of their worldly possessions, and were walking across town for help. 
