The song you hear playing is called Cruzin'. This original MIDI was created and sequenced by Keith Spillman at The Little Kitchen.
Hi... welcome to my first effort at web design. I am creating these pages to tell you a little about the man who tolerates Leah and her web addiction. As you've probably seen, if you visited the family section of Leah's site, I am a firefighter. I've been employed by the City Of Dallas (Fire Department) since I was 19 years old. During my 28 years of service I took EMT (emergency medical technician) and paramedic training. This came in handy for the 11 years I rode an ambulance. I also worked as a dispatcher for a few years but the majority of my duty has been as a firefighter and through the years I have worked up in rank to my current position of Captain.
In my spare time I enjoy fishing, scuba diving, hunting, reading, flying in my paraplane and I also like to travel. Lately, I've been doing quite a bit of scuba diving and I'll be posting pictures of some of my dive adventures to Bon Aire, St. Martin's, the Florida Keys and Honduras here soon. Ok, enough about me (probably more than anyone would want to know)... on to the rest of my site !
Visit my firefighter jokes page and watch for this site to grow !
To be skillful and brave.
Please let me never falter
When there are lives to save.
Be with my fellow firefighters
And ride with us each run,
From the moment we "suit-up"
Until the job is done.
Be with me as I guide a child
Through the dark and smokey haze
Give me strength and courage
As I fight the deadly blaze.
Lord, I put my safety in Your hands,
But in the chaos and the strife,
Help me act with selfless courage
God, just let me save a life.
So, you want to be a firefighter? Maybe not. Before you become one of us, we want you to know what you do not.
We cannot offer the pay or benefit packages of more typical employers. That's why we're called "public servants" and "volunteers". You should also know that you "volunteer" to belong -- everything that follows in the fire service is "mandatory". It has to be. The services we provide quite literally involve life and death; including your own.
Fire departments are not social clubs. The days of the "good old boys", "bearded wonders", and "banquet firemen" are gone. It has to be. Buildings burn with more intensity, hazardous material content, and risk of collapse is greater than ever before. Other organizations exist to fulfill your "party" needs.
Belonging will be time consuming. Training. More training. Always, training. Firefighting is a "gamble". The only means you have of placing the "odds" in your favor is education. Knowing how fire burns, clues of color and smoke, building construction and ALL the other things that must be learned may save your life, and the lives of others.
It also takes time to respond to alarms, do your duty, and then get all the equipment and tools of the trade back in service. The work doesn't end when the fire goes out. Time is needed for vehicle and station maintenance, prevention, inspections, investigations, record keeping, parades and fund raisers. There is never enough money. Time... The fire service requires lots of time.
Firefighting is physically demanding. Not all the time- just each time you step foot on the truck to answer a call. Your heart pounds, adrenalin flows, and if you are sane, you are also scared. You'll wear almost 50 pounds of protective equipment. While wearing it, you will pull, push, climb, stretch, carry, lift, crouch, crawl, and breath harder than you thought possible. Smoke and soot will become your cologne. You will learn a new meaning of what it is to be truly "cold", "hot", "sore", and "tired". You may bleed, you will sweat, and sometimes; you will shed tears.
Firefighting can be ugly. It can be blinding bright, or blinding dark. It can be deadly silent, or have a deafening roar. You will see suffering and carnage in fires of the future--like those before.
So, you still want to be a firefighter? Then you might make it, you can make it; many have. The "bad" in firefighting is part of the "good". It is what makes us different. We do what others can't. If you become one of us, you'll share challenges, comradery, and when we're successful, a sense of accomplishment that is second to none."
Your family becomes ours; and ours becomes yours. In our breed, you will experience an often strange sense of humor, and you'll develop pride. Not boastful, bragging, cocky pride; rather an inner pride known only by those who have worn the gear. You will develop a respect for your co-workers across the nation, and their job, that exsists in no other profession.
It is often said that "firefighting gets in your blood". That's not true. If you become one of us, it gets in your heart.
