One of the things I was asked about during my interview with the fire chief was my thoughts on prevention. I rattled off some different ways that fire departments are involved in fire prevention and how that has helped the community. I also talked about the future and how we may be part of the front line of prevention in EMS. A year later we were vaccinating people for the H1N1 virus.
The other day (ok....week) it was raining a lot. My captain noticed on his way in that there were several small boulders, each about 100 pounds, that had slid into the roadway. Fortunately it was Sunday and traffic was light. The other firefighter and I jumped into the Type 4 and headed up the road. We spent the next 30 minutes clearing the roadway.
I know that, except for the couple of people that passed us while we were working, no one knew what we were doing. There was no 911 call or complaint. It was just the fire department trying to make use of that ounce of prevention. Although I have to admit that the 'prevention' is a lot more boring than the 'cure.'
My husband and I talked about this as we drove home from Vegas and drove through St. George, a couple hours before the flooding began. The mayors of the cities that constitute Washington County decided to go ahead and declare the area a state of emergency in preparation of the flooding so that they would have the federal funding in place for clean up. Prevention and preparation might be boring, but it sure takes a lot of unnecessary drama out of the 'cure' when push comes to shove. And that's something I respect a great deal. (And what boy doesn't like playing in the dirt and rocks?)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, bro!
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