Looking back over the year, many have memories that are fond and sad, profound and faint. Firefighters have experiences in a given year that much of the population will never know in a lifetime.
So we asked our firefighting community to reflect on the year that has passed and share the most important memory. Below are 13 of the more interesting offerings. Please, feel free to share your greatest firefighting memory in the comment section below.
1.“The showing of love from all the emergency services local, nationwide and worldwide for my sister, Paramedic Kelly Doane Emerick, who was murdered July 22.” — Greg Doane
2.“Getting voted on.” — Dave Oldaker
3.“The best moment wasn’t at a fire or rescue or even at the station. It was coming together with brothers from another department to bring smiles to the faces of the children in our communities by making sure they each got a gift for Christmas.” — Daniel Calderon
4.“Making my first interior attack on a structure fire and actually getting a pretty good save on the mobile home.” — Will Rose
5.“A simple activated fire alarm at an apartment complex where a bunch of drunk women together for a bachelorette party begged us to strip for them.” — Drew Glass
6.“Becoming captain.” — Jeff Harrison
7.“Doing structure protection in the West Fork Complex in Colorado and the overwhelming sense of gratitude from the residents and others.” — Travis Chamberlain
8.“Attending the funeral and memorial service for the Prescott 19, who were killed working at the Yarnell Hill fire. Being able to see the brotherhood of firefighters show their support for the fallen was amazing.” — Paul Dykema
9.“A crude oil tank being struck by lightning and blowing the tank about 100 yards away.” — Trevor Blackwell
10.“On July 6 Rangeley Maine Fire Rescue responded to Lac-Mégantic, Canada. On arrival we found 30 buildings on fire and 70 tank cars derailed and burning. Sadly, 47 innocent people died that morning. I have been in the fire service 54 years and have never seen anything like that.” — Clyde R. Chapman
11.“Getting trapped in a brush truck during Hurricane Sandy.” — Robert Thomas
12.“Being on the second attack team in on my in-law’s house. There were 100+ degree temperatures and 95 percent humidity. We had to pull out after the roof started collapsing. Watching as we went to exterior operations was something I will never ever forget — a feeling of helplessness to see things burning that was everything your family had.” — Josh Moore
13.“Standing casket vigil for Capt. Brandan Erickson of the Eagle (Idaho) Fire Department and participating in his memorial service.” — Doug Gregg
