Sep 19, 2010 By Bobby Reed 4 min read

On the evening of Sept. 8, around 11 p.m., I was out for a walk and was almost to the grounds of the North Union Township Volunteer Fire Department, when suddenly the siren went up. I quickly walked across the tarmac before the firemen started arriving.

Rather than continuing on, I decided to stop and observe things for a little while.

What took place touched my heart in the deepest most profound way one could ever imagine. First, one car pulled in from one direction, then another vehicle from the opposite direction and so forth until about maybe eight or nine vehicles were sitting in the parking lot, and those people were already on there way into the garage.

You could hear somewhat of a commotion going on in the gar-age as they were getting suited up and boarding the trucks to respond to the call which was a house full of smoke about three or four miles from the fire station.

After only just a couple of minutes, the bay doors began to open and out rolled engine #1, one of our two heavy pumpers with a full crew. Right behind it rolled truck #2, our tanker and right behind it was truck #5, the air/lights truck, all with full crews.

This all took place within five minutes of the initial call.

I can’t convey fully the deep sense of pride and appreciation I felt standing there for what I had just witnessed.

I’m taking the trouble to write this because I want to sharpen the public’s awareness about the true value and worth of our local volunteer firemen and other emergency responders.

At 11 p.m., probably most of those firemen were getting ready to turn in for the night and go to work in the morning, but there they were, and they didn’t get back into the station until after 2 a.m., thereby losing a pretty fare portion of their sleep for that night.

What I truly want to be understood by all is that, we so often honor our service men and women, our veterans and those many civic and service organizations that do so many wonderful things for all of us, and they deserve every bit of praise we can offer them, but it should also be realized that our local volunteer firemen and emergency responders are every bit as valuable and important to our safety and well being.

Unlike the others, they are just plain, ordinary citizens just as you and I, only they pledge their time, service and sometimes even their health and/or – God forbid – their lives in unselfish service whenever somebody in our community is calling out for help.

And they don’t get a government pension or free schooling. In fact, they don’t get a single dime for risking their lives to help others, and quite seldom do they even get a thank you for their unselfish service.

I’m extremely proud of our volunteer fire department and you should be of yours too.

The next time you receive a fund drive letter in the mail, please give what you can and try to attend their fundraisers as that’s how they get the money they need to purchase those beautiful, shiny fire trucks you see out on emergency calls which by the way are very darn expensive, and so is all the other gear they need to be safe themselves when they’re out on a call.

Please try to keep in mind the countless free hours they give to us when we need them, and the next time you see a fire truck go by, say a little prayer, because the responders don’t always make it back safely.

Bobby Reed is a resident of Lemont Furnace.