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| The Accidental Champion |
| Written by Tim Beebe | |
 Tim Beebe, the fire chief in Upsala, Ont., looks at the lighter side of firefighting in his new online column.I hold a world record in the fire service. Here’s the story. Warm sunlight shone through the windshield of the pumper as I cruised down Highway 17 on a routine maintenance run. The world was smiling. Truckers waved, and I waved back. “No worries guys, Upsala Fire Department is here for you,” I mused. I stopped at the turnaround and checked my load. The hose looked good. Tools were in place. All compartments closed. The tarp was missing, but it had been gone for years. On the return trip, I noticed one driver waving a bit more vigorously. “He’s a friendly fellow,” I thought. “Maybe he’s heard about our crackerjack crew.” I sat up a little straighter. When I stopped to fuel up, a rig pulled in behind me. The driver hopped out and ambled over. Maybe he wanted an autograph . . . “Hey, buddy! Don’t you ever look in your mirrors?” he asked with a roguish grin. “Of course I do. Why?” “You lost a bunch of hose on the highway back there!” “You’re kidding!" “Come have a look.” Numbly, I followed him to the rear of the truck, and peered around the corner. An empty hose bed stared me in the face. Hastily thanking the trucker, I vaulted into the pumper and shot back down the highway. Cresting a rise, I saw it. All 1,200 feet. Nicely laid, right down the white line. As I dragged and loaded it into a heap on the truck, the world was no longer smiling. It was laughing. Occasionally the truckers would honk and wave. I was sure they were hooting it up on their CB radios. “You’d better not catch fire in my response area,” I grumbled under my breath. Later, tired and chagrined, I called a crew to help me relay the hose. They were sympathetic and slightly amused. After all, it’s not every day that the chief breaks the world record for unloading a hose bed. So, fellow firefighters, the next time you do your vehicle checks, take a little extra care to ensure everything is nice and snug. Then make sure it’s going to stay that way. If something doesn’t look quite right, change it. Never mind that it’s been that way for 10 years. We’re in the business of saving lives, not endangering them. The addition of a simple tailgate net prevented a repeat of this incident. By the way, you may be able to challenge my world record but I will not likely agree to a rematch. Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. -Eleanor Roosevelt |
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