well, they did it again

The Upsala crew pulled it off again. They did a vehicle rescue without me. Bummer. We don't get that many calls, and I hate to see them out there having fun without me. Not that helping someone out of a wrecked vehicle should be classified as having fun . . . but hey, we firefighters are a strange lot. And Upsala's vehicle responses often seem to fall into two categories - they either don't need us at all, or they need a ride to the funeral home. It really isn't fun disentangling what's left after an intimate encounter between a Honda and a Western Star. So when we actually get to put our training to good use and help someone into an ambulance rather than a hearse, you have to forgive us for calling it fun . . . but rest assured we don't use the "f" word until we're back at the hall.

So where was I when the call came? Busy visiting my in-laws in Thunder Bay. Important, but preferably done before or after something exciting happens in Upsala.

Like I said, we firefighters are a strange lot. We get called when people are having a bad day. No one wants someone to have a bad day. But we spend hours and hours training because we know people will have bad days, and they'll call us when they do. And . . . well, if they are going to have a bad day anyway, we don't want to sit on the sidelines and watch. Otherwise, why go to all that bother training? If you want to see a cool video of someone whose bad day got better because of some firefighters, click here. No, it wasn't the Upsala crew. There aren't usually helicopters with video camera's hanging around Upsala. But it could have been us.