Hug a hero
Published: February 23, 2006
We see the good work of our local volunteer emergency first-responders — our firefighters, ambulance crews and fire police — every day in the pages of this newspaper.
Often, the items are small, listed together under the fire and police log that appears on inside pages. Regularly, though, these cases in which the crews respond turn out to be much more significant news — think of the power outage in the city Friday and the other high-wind calls that hit the county the same day.
We don’t like to think we take these individuals for granted, but we probably do. A lucky individual will never have to directly come into contact with these individuals as they pursue their work, except, perhaps, to detour around an emergency site.
But those of us who’ve been unfortunate enough to need help have the great good fortune that we have so many dedicated individuals who will respond to help protect our lives and our property in a time of need.
It’s not that way everywhere, and the tale we want to tell will underscore just how lucky we are to have the kinds of people that we have at our many fire companies and ambulance companies in the Lebanon Valley.
In Monett, Mo., a small town in the southwestern part of the state, firefighters responded to a call to a garage fire — and then watched it burn.
It seems the property owner was not a paid member of the fire district, and therefore, did not qualify for firefighting efforts. The man, Bibaldo Rueda, injured himself trying to fight the flames himself, but he still lost a considerable amount of property.
The fire chief, Ronnie Myers, said the department couldn’t survive if it had to fight fires for free. Rueda maintained that in the 18 months he had lived on the property, he was never made aware of a dues policy. He even tried to pay firefighters on the spot in order to get them to unroll their hoses, but the crew said it had no policy on that type of transaction and would not accept.
Myers said the firefighters will go to work if there is a life endangered by flames, but apparently an individual, untrained and desperate, doing what he can to protect his own property at the risk of his own life doesn’t fulfill the protocols.
Firefighters came to the scene and watched all the action from the roadside. They stuck around just in case the fire spread to adjoining properties owned by individuals who were members of the fire district.
For a fire story, this is a chilling tale.
In that part of the country, there are two choices for fire protection: Tax supported firefighters or the memberships in fire districts. We don’t know enough about that area to wonder why there can’t be volunteers, though we know the sorts of problems our own volunteer emergency crews face.
What makes the story so shocking is the lack of response to a fellow citizen, a neighbor, in danger. We have covered the good and bad in the Lebanon Valley for well in excess of a century, and much of the bad has involved the good work of our ambulance and fire crews doing what they do, 24/7, year-round, and spending much of their time desperately trying to raise the funds they need to pay for upgraded equipment and better training.
Be thankful that we still have so many dedicated individuals among the emergency responders. Do whatever you can to assure that people like them will still drop everything and risk their own lives to protect the lives and property of others. In their absence, we can know see how horrific the alternative could be.
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