Concord Fire Station #10

When I awoke early yesterday morning, in my usual amount of pain, the last thing I expected was the Concord Fire Department to be making an early morning visit. But, fate, having its own designs, intervened, and due to the early hour, I was obliged to call the non-emergency number for the fire department. The problem was a simple one, and I felt decidedly stupid in having to call upon their help for something so trivial, but, as I said, fate usually has its own designs.

I was just sitting down to eat breakfast when one of our smoke detectors went off. Now, I eat a very light breakfast of soup and toast, and had burned neither. So, figuring that a battery had gone bad I attempted to change it.  I got a ladder from the garage and climbed up to change the battery, all the while mourning the loss of a hot breakfast.

As I disconnected the unit, there were other “chirping" noises coming from throughout the house. The problem was now compounded, and my hot breakfast merely a foregone dream. As I continued lugging this ladder about, bones began to crack and it was becoming a very painful situation. It was still too early to call a contractor, and I was getting increasingly annoyed with myself at not being able to fix this seemingly simple problem. So, with a foolish feeling in my soul, I called the Concord City non-emergency number, seeking some advice or direction from the officer on duty. But I wound up getting a whole lot more than that.

The Officer who took my call understood my inability to tackle the problem, and against my wishes, dispatched a fire truck to my house, which arrived in less than 3 minutes. Manned by 4 of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, they proceeded to explain my fire detection system to me; which is something my builder should have done. And then they fixed the problem, as well as inspecting every one of the units on both floors.

I couldn’t help but tell them that I was a graduate of the National Firefighting School in Monmouth, New Jersey, and had fought a few fires at sea. This really cheered them up and so they took me outside to see their brand new fire truck. And you know what? This was its first call.  And I hope that all of their calls are as trouble free, and safe, as this one was.

As I said, firemen are special people. They don’t ask the color, or religion, of the person inside the burning building. They don’t look at the bumper sticker on your car before deciding to cut you out. They rush in while others stream out. And they do it for one reason; to fight a common enemy.

Sue and I dropped off some cookies and a note later in the day as a way of saying thanks. These guys did not have to anything for us. They wanted to. And that makes all the difference in the world.