� 1998 Pryor Daily Times published: March 1st, 1998
Real heroes were cops, firemen
A Pryor businessman lauded for saving a cat and her kittens during a Feb 6 fire says he's not the hero.
Instead, Dan Judd feels the variety of police, fire and ambulance personnel on hand deserve the thanks.
"Those were, in my opinion, the real heroes of the night," Judd writes in a letter to The Times, expressing a job-well-done to the Pryor Fire Department, Chouteau Fire Department, Pryor Police Department, Mayes County sheriff's Office and MESTA ambulance medics.
"Those firefighters escorted me into the building and stood ready to come back in after me should I not have made it out.
After leaving my business with those cats, those same firefighters continued to fight the fire for three hours while I waited in the safety and comfort of the Conoco coffee shop for them to give the 'all-clear' so I could secure my offices.
When this fire was over, they proceeded to another one without even having time to clean their gear," Judd writes.
"During those three hours, I personally saw those police officers and sheriff's deputies risk their lives and equipment several times directing traffic away from the scene so the firefighters could do their job.
This was all done at temperatures I would normally not have gone out in.
To still be grateful for a simple thing like free hot coffee from Conoco was amazing and impressed me immensely," Judd writes.
Judd appreciated the fact MESTA medics stood by to transport injured emergency workers, should the need arise.
"While that was probably routine, and a comfort to those on the scene, it brought home to me the fact that the ambulance would not be there at all if it had not been necessary at some point in the past," Judd writes.
The business owner noted the fact his cat rescue made the front page while emergency workers "are the ones who risk their lives and health every day doing the same thing, and usually only make the paper when they are killed in the line of duty.
"In my opinion, every time an incident like this happens each and every one of the people involved should be recognized. Even though we pay them to do it, the paycheck they get doesn't cover pain or death."
Judd concludes by writing, "A very respected friend says she'd like to see people get their laurels while they're still alive to enjoy them.
I agree."
And now, the
rest
of the story:
Mother and Babies saved, but Business and Jobs lost!
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Dan Judd
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