I had never personally witnessed a house fire, until a few nights ago.

Fire broke out in the garage of a house on the other side of the street from mine. The reasons aren't clear to me, but it's really none of my business (unless there's a serial arsonist running around out there.)

The homeowners, a young couple expecting their first baby, detected the fire and called 911, grabbed their coats and got out of the house. It was a brisk 32° that night.

Then the Fire Department showed up.

The Volunteer Fire Department.

The firetruck showed up at about 10pm that night, followed less than a minute later by the first of a fleet of cars and trucks - the volunteer cavalry.

Before I moved here to North Carolina a few years ago, I had no idea volunteer FDs still existed in places like this, less than 20 miles from the state capitol. But exist they do, and I'm glad for it. One of my poker buddies, who lives only about a block down the street, is a member of the AVFD and was the first on the scene.

[The volunteers receive a page or a phone call, then drive themselves to the scene of whatever incident to which they are responding. No, I didn't think volunteers would actually spend their on-call hours camped out at the station waiting for a call, but then I never really gave it any thought before. Shame on me.]

To my untrained eye, there was no telling that these were "amateur" firefighters.

These are people who hold "day jobs" and yet commit their free time to the community. They spend long hours training themselves to help people and save lives, and they stand ready to answer a call at a moment's notice. And they never know if the call they receive is the one that will put them in danger of life and limb.

Following 9/11, a great deal of well-deserved praise was heaped on firefighters all around the country. We would do well to remember that their dedication hasn't diminished simply because we don't bother to pay attention to it any more.

Posted by Russ at 03:18 PM, February 18, 2004 in Miscellany