Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Sirens


This morning I was awoken by the sounds of sirens, as they passed by my house before dawn. I quickly said a little prayer for those involved in the emergency, as well as for those brave men speeding out to help them. There were so many emergency vehicles that sped by, that I couldn't tell if it was for a fire or auto accident.
As I lay there listening to the seemingly never ending sounds of whirling sirens, my thoughts went to my grandson, Matt...who I was sure was in one of those emergency vehicles.
I am very proud of Matt...who is approaching his 19th birthday next month. He has dedicated himself to helping others. Matt is a volunteer firefighter who has been in training for sometime now.
When Matt was in highschool he belonged to a group called the "Explorers," thru our local City Police Department. The Explorers, is a group of young people, 14 - 18 years old, interested in Law Enforcement, and to learn all aspects of police work. Explorers ride in patrol cars, work in the office of the police department and receive police related training. They are subject to the same background checks as the police officers, because of the sensitivity of the work. They must maintain a certain grade point average and are also tested in order to become an Explorer in the police department.
After the Explorers, Matt joined the ranks of the Volunteer Fire Department. Volunteer firefighters just don't join and then go out to fight fires...they must be trained first...then tested and trained somemore. There training is never ending. Matt has undergone some vigorous training and someday soon hopes to be hired as a firefighter....but first he must get E.M.T. certified and ride in an ambulance with a paramedic for awhile.

2 comments:

tomlaureld@yahoo.com said...

A fine looking young man and we are very proud of him to here in Western Kentucky.

Motherkitty said...

Since we live so close to the hospital and the highway, we get sirens every day. They are either ambulances going out or coming in, fire trucks, police cars, and of course, all the helicopters going and coming from the hospital fly right over our house.

We don't have a scanner (although they are a big item with everyone here) but we generally can keep track of what's going on by the type and frequency of the sirens going by.

Matt looks really tough in his fireman's clothes. I hope that he stays healthy in his chosen profession.