Blogger Jennifer Mabee is a volunteer firefighter with a passion for
writing. She will blog regularly about her experiences with the
Township of Georgian Bay Fire Department in Ontario. You
can comment by scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Nov. 3, 2011 - I was sitting at home reading up on the latest news on the FFIC website, excited about becoming a first-time blogger and looking for inspiration for my next blog, when off goes the pager. The moment I’ve been waiting for . . . my first call since returning to the fire department!
By the way, I’d forgotten how one’s body reacts when those tones go off. Darn near made me jump out of my skin! The old heart starts pounding, the fight-or-flight response (otherwise known as an adrenaline dump) kicks in, the hair on the neck stands up and, for all I know, my pupils probably dilated too.
I was running around the house in a tizzy looking for things I thought I should grab (socks, cell phone, keys), my mind was racing and I still had the pager in my hand trying to listen to the call (What’s the call for? Are the trucks rolling? Are there any updates?), not to mention trying to figure out whether I could go to the call and make it back in time to get the kids off the bus. (So much for keeping my cool and being all nonchalant about my first call.)
I checked the time: 1:40 p.m. Here’s what my thought bubble looked like by then: I have to get my daughters off the school bus at 3:20. Can I make it? This is my first call since returning to the department that I can actually go to because I have bunker gear now! I can’t miss it! Eeeeeee! Can I make it in time? It’s a fire alarm, two-station response, at a school! Hmmmm. What do I do?? What do I do? I’m standing in my kitchen doing the “Do-I-go-or-not-go?” dance. My mind flip-flopping back and forth while trying to figure out what to do. I start thinking about the time factor. The school is a good 15-minute drive from the fire hall. At the moment, I’m 20 minutes from the hall. I would get to the hall at 2:00, get to Mactier around 2:15-2:20ish, and have to leave by 3:00 to be back in Port Severn for 3:20. Then I start wondering if maybe someone can get the kids off the bus for me. Yeah, yeah, that’s a good idea! Ah crap! Sydney has a dentist appointment today right after school. Double crap!
However, if it’s a false alarm, we’ll be back at the hall in time. If it’s not, I’d have to find some way to be back in time for the bus, which defeats the purpose of going to the call if I can only be there for 30 minutes. Crap. Disappointment sets in. I can’t go. I missed my first opportunity to go on a call. As much as I really, really wanted to go, to get that first call under my belt, to show everyone that I’m totally dedicated to being back on the fire department, it just didn’t make sense to go knowing that I couldn’t commit to being there for as long as the fire department needed me to be.
But that’s part of what being a volunteer firefighter is about. Sometimes you make it to the call and sometimes you don’t. No one can make it to every call and/or every training session. (Mind you, there are some eager beavers out there who are darn close!) That’s just the way it is. As much as firefighters tend to devote themselves to the fire department, and everything that goes along with it, they do have lives outside of the department too. Today, for this volunteer firefighter, my children had to come first. But trust me; there will be a day when I’ll totally ditch them for a call! Ha ha. Just kiddin’! Sorta. Kinda. But not really.
- - -
Jennifer Mabee is a volunteer with the Township of Georgian Bay Fire Department in Ontario. She began her fire fighting career with the Township of Georgian Bay in 1997 and became the department’s fire prevention officer in 2000 and a captain in 2003. She was a fire inspector with the City of Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services before taking time off to focus on family, and is excited to be back at it. E-mail her at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
- - -
|
