The Ultimate sacrifice

“I didn't know them but I would like to take a moment to remeber four of my fallen bretheren.
Firefighters Tom L. Craven, 30, Karen L. Fitzpatrick, 18, Devin A Weaver, 21, and Jessica L. Johnson, 19, burned to death while cowering under protective tents near the Chewuch River, home to protected species salmon and trout. Seventeen other firefighters survived the ordeal.

Sorry to be morbid, but while I truly love nature, it kills me to see a fish override the rights of one of my fellow human beings.”

“Cower means to crouch, as in fear; tremble; quail. I doubt these young people were cowards, if they were they wouldn't have been involved in that type of work.

They were taking the type action they were trained to take, when in that situation. Unfortunately it didn't work this time, and I hope to God that there was a better reason for them loosing their life than protecting fish.


What a waste of life that would be.”

“I agree with you trlhikr... it IS a waste of life... however like you said, they were doing the job they were trained to do.

Lt.Dan... coming from the EMS(firefighters & medics) world, we unfortunately see the gruesome side of life don't we? It's horrible to think of people burning to death... and I understand your sentiments. Just last month my partner and I had to pull 6 bodies from 2 pickups that had collided on the highway. 3 people survived, the other 6 were burned beyond recognition. What a horrific way for ANYONE to die. Even when we don't know the people involved personally, it still touches us doesn't it?”

“Salute.”

“medic girl..... I've had three people die in my presents, two i performed cpr on, didn't help in the end but i tried. The other was my dad this past april, i only wish i could have done something for him.

DAMN I HATE CIGARETTES.

I have a great respect for people that are willing to do your kind of work. There is alot of suffering and wrongs committed in this world and that's if you don't go looking for it.

To go to work and know that it's comming your way takes good deal of intestinal fortitude.”

“Trlhikr, kudos to you for stepping in and making a difference. There's too much indifference in our world today as it is.
I know from personal experience how hard it is to do CPR and not have the person come back... I'm not sure if it helps, but try not to feel as though they 'died' even though you tried to help them. Remember that if you're performing CPR on someone, it's because they aren't breathing and don't have a pulse. As cold and clinical as it sounds, after 4 minutes without oxygen the brain starts to die... CPR stops irreversable brain damage from occuring, CPR alone doesn't bring someone back to life. In 99.9% of cardiac arrests, CPR alone will not re-start a stopped heart, nor will it 're-set' a faulty electrical impulse in the muscle fibers... what it does do, is allow oxygenated blood to travel to the vital organs of the body until the medics can arrive and defibrillate a person.

You did the best you could do given the circumstances... as an EMS worker let me tell you that what you did is 100% more than a large majority of the population would have. On behalf of my colleagues and I... Thank You.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad... losing family is never easy... it's even harder when it's something that could be prevented isn't it?”

“For anyone who wants to know, the quote at the first was from Fox news.
Medic Girl, I am sorry to hear about the multiple fatality, after 15 years of this work, I have seen so much that it starts to blur together.
Does your department have a Critical Incident Stress Team?
The hardest part was getting a bunch of tough redneck Georgia Boys to accept that they needed to talk to someone.
My Captain had a multiple fatality explosion at a factory, recently, to the best of my knowledge he has let it get to him.
I guess when I saw this story on Fox it angered me. I get really tired of Govt. people hiding behind the anonymity of "Big Brother".”

“I don't know how any of you do that type of work daily. I am grateful that there are people who are willing to, but I don't think I could do it without it eventually getting to me. Thanks.”

“Was this the incident where the Helicopters could not get water from the nearby river due to the "protected species"?”

“I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who work in dangerous or life saving professions. You all deal with traumatic situations that the rest of us generally only view from a distance. You deserve to be proud of your strength, and you deserve the real support of the masses and the government, not just lip service.”

“Have done CPR on half a dozen people, including the much-loved kid who owned the general store here in town (head-on into a tree on a skidoo) and someone who had been dead for at least 2 hours (family insisted we do SOMETHING!). Most of the time you are doing CPR for the benefit of the living. It comforts them to think that at least you're trying to do something while waiting for the paramedics. Have actually brought a couple people around with defib. That's a good feeling.

Probably the most moving experience of my life was marching in the memorial parade with my department and attending the ceremony for the six Worcester, MA firefighters who were killed in a warehouse fire. I won't even try to put it into words.”

“I have never needed emergency treatment and pray (yes, pray) that I don't. I have the highest respect for the men and women to are there in case I do need them. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.”

“The thing I have a problem with is most people LOVE firefighters and paramedics but they HATE the Police yet the Police contribute as much or more to society. I thank god every day these people are out there making our world better for all of us.”

“I'm waiting to hear how the Environmental Whacks are going to talk themselves out of this one.”

“Thank you to everyone... there are times when we feel sort of 'taken for granted' like everyone just expects us to show up do what we have to & disappear. Although most of us don't do this job for the glory(we do it because we like helping people), it's nice to be remembered once in a while too... :o)

Lt.Dan.... we do have a CISM team... it's run by our provincial gov't... all we do is call them and ask. We all had a hard time talking about it at first, but it DOES help....

Steiny... that would be an incredibly emotional event. It's pretty hard to deal with when our own people die in the line of duty.

Grunt... that's so true... without the police our jobs would be a h-ll of a lot harder and waaaaay more dangerous. Thanks to them too!”