A quiet, afternoon in late August, I lay in a hammock sipping an iced tea, watching my wife scratching in her rose garden. The smell of fresh mowed grass is in the air and my rake leaning against the tree. A tranquil afternoon in all regards.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, “Fire dept, 10-70 residence.”  I jump to my feet spilling my ice tea and run for the car as I shout to my wife “I love you.”  Yes I’m a volunteer firefighter. I drive the 4 blocks to the fire station and within 5 minutes I’m on my way to who knows what.

The tanker pulls up to the scene of the fire and I look and realize we are sitting in front of my best friend’s house, he and his family standing on the front lawn scared and shaking. “What’s going on” I ask him. “We smelled a very strong smoke odor so we came outside and called 911” he tells me.  “Good job” I tell him, “We’ll check it out.”

 At first glance the house looks perfectly normal, no smoke or flames, no indication of a fire at all. Another firefighter and I head to the front door, thinking to ourselves just another false alarm.   We were about 30 ft from the door when a huge fireball took the door off the hinges and bellowed through the opening going over ours heads  warming up our helmets.  “Active fire active fire” I yell back to the other firefighters awaiting orders.   Within a second 15 trained men and women gird themselves against the fight of their lives that looms before them.

A 2 ½” line is pulled off the truck and coupled to the pump of the truck, while another line is stretched to the nearest fire hydrant to create a source of water for the battle.  Knobs are turned, levers pulled and valves opened as the hoses jump to action spewing forth a torrent of quenching water.

Two firefighters man the large hose and lean into the pressure trying to push them back and plod forward toward the offending flame. Aiming the stream into the heart of the fire, you hear the hiss as the water turns to steam in the extreme heat, and blowing back into the firefighter’s faces.

Meanwhile other lines are stretched and the fight is taken to the blaze form all sides. Slowly the flames die down and the heat subsides, and brave firefighters don their gear to enter the house to make sure this fire was out.

The fire is out the house is destroyed and my friend and his family in less than 2 hrs are left homeless with out anything but what is on their backs. Sure they had insurance but there are so many things all the insurance money in the world could ever replace.

After offering all the comfort and help I could to my friend and his family, I return home to my wife and home and once again I am thankful for all I have.