1JOHN3:16 - Homepage

It was the September of 1974, and my childhood dream became reality. I was accepted as a probationary member in the Brighton Volunteer Fire Company in the Town of Tonawanda, located just north of the City of Buffalo. Since I was a little boy my dream has always been, "I want to be a fireman when I grow up." I was very excited and thrilled to be accepted.
I was on a six-month probation, and during that time I had to do a lot of training and take many courses. Being a volunteer, all of my spare time was spent at the hall and everything else took a back seat. I eventually made it through the probation, and became a rookie in the department.
It was about 10:00 on a Saturday night in May of 1975, when the tones came over the radio announcing we had a fire in an apartment above a restaurant. This was my first working fire and I was on the first truck to get on location. My adrenaline was pumping, unknowing of what waited for me.
Upon arrival, fire was venting out of a window on the second floor. As I was getting off the truck to grab the 1-1/2" hose line, a screaming mother yelled that her two children were still inside. During my training, the number one concern we are told is life.
Upon hearing this, my partner and I ran in the front door and up the stairs. We got to the second floor and started crawling down the hallway, past the room where the flames were licking out the doorway into the hall. Knowing if the fire got into the hallway we would be trapped in the front of the building, we hoped that the second in crew would take care of the fire.
We proceeded searching the room, but only found the family dog. We did not know as we were entering the structure, that the two teenage boys that passed us on the stairs were her children. The way the mother made it sound, we thought we were searching for little children.
After the fire was extinguished, I felt very proud of the job I did and thankful that no one was hurt. After all the trucks were back in service at the hall, I went home to get some well-deserved rest.
That same night around 4:30 in the morning, the tones came over the radio again. Police were reporting heavy smoke coming from a pizzeria. The first arriving chief on location reported that the building was fully charged with smoke but no visible fire. When I arrived on the third truck, the first in line went in the front door and over the counter.
My partner, a five-year veteran, said that we'll just walk around the end of the counter. We were now standing in front of the pizza ovens, with the smoke getting blacker and lower to the ground and the temperature rising around us. From the time we entered the front of the building, not even two minutes had passed. All of a sudden from the outside came shouts, "DO NOT WALK AROUND TUE END OF THE COUNTER, THE FLOOR CAVED IN AND THERE IS A BASEMENT IN THE BULDING!”
Hearing this and looking at the exact path my partner and I took, I see flames shooting out of the hole about 4-5 feet high. Fear now strikes us; what about the floor we stand on right now? We proceed further to the rear of the structure when we meet up with the first in crew and one that entered from the rear door. We locate the basement door, and upon opening it, we are met with fire rolling out of the doorway and across the ceiling. At this time, we are unable to gain access to the basement by the stairs, so my partner and I proceed back up to the front of the pizzeria. We chop holes in the floor not far from where it burnt through and drop a couple of Bresdian Distributor nozzles down the holes on hose lines to help knock down the fire. Bresdian distributors are nozzles with holes around the sides where the water pressure makes it spin around to disperse the water.
Upon entering the basement after the fire was extinguished, I see that the floor joists where my partner and I were standing and where we had chopped the holes for the Bresdian Distributors were more than halfway burnt through.
I arrived home that Sunday morning, knowing that if I took a shower I would not make the church service. As I stated earlier, everything took a back seat when I was accepted in the company, even going to church. I felt I had too much to thank God for, and God would not mind if I came stinking of smoke from the fire and having soot all over me. For as it is spoken in Isaiah 53:6, “ All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;” or 1 Peter 2:25, “ For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls”. I was going astray since I had joined the Fire Company. I was not going to church, praying, or having time for my Portals of Prayer. For in Psalm 119:176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,”. For as God, the True Shepherd I must look at Ezekiel 34:16, "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick;” or as Jesus said in Matthew 18:11, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” Or Luke 19:10, "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
For the past eight months I was going astray, becoming lost from my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I was not attending church or receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus sought out the lost, and brought the lost back to him. He made the message loud and clear to me. I now am very thankful everyday for what he has done for me. After the fire in the pizzeria, it made me want to fight fires even more. The big difference that happened was that it made me very aware of Jesus Christ in my everyday life. For as Psalm 23:4 says; "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." For as I enter a burning building I now know that Christ is right there with me. For as Christ said in Hebrews 13:5b, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." As Psalm 91:11-12; "For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone." The angels are also there with me. If it is God's will that I am to lose my life while fighting a fire, I know Christ will be there with me; for Psalm 23:6b; “and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”.
Another verse in John 15:12-13, has so much meaning to me, for this one holds true for the Fire Service. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." We firemen do this every time we enter a structure to protect and rescue the residents of our community. It holds true when we respond to a working fire assigned to the F.A.S.T. team (Firefighter Assist Search Team). Our sole purpose at those fire scenes is to standby, prepared to go in if fellow firefighters are trapped or in trouble. By the time we are placed into duty, the scene has escalated to a very dangerous situation, and we must go in after our brother firemen. The usual means of entrance may not be possible. We may have to create a new opening in the structure to get in or possibly make a new entrance to the basement. We should do everything possible to save our brother firefighters.
As I was writing this article, six brother firefighters lost their lives in the line of duty in Worcester, Massachusetts. Two firefighters entered the structure in search of possibly trapped homeless people inside. Minutes later, a voice came over the radio calling, "mayday, we are running out of air!" Four other firefighters entered the structure for the love for their friends; they laid their live’s down for their friends. All six firefighters gave up their live's for the love of fellow human beings.
I extend my deepest sympathy to the families, and the members of the Worcester Fire Dept.. Even being a fireman hundreds of miles away, I felt the pain, the hurt, and the tears I shed for my brother firefighters. Firefighters are one family, and we all should feel the hurt when we lose any of them; we all do the same dangerous job.
It has been several years since that pizzeria fire, and it took several years for me to start speaking of my faith around the firehouse. Some firefighters may laugh and make fun of me, but as Christ speaks; you will be persecuted for my names sake. I love my brother firemen, and I don't want to see any of them be confronted with the eternal fire of Hell and not be clothed in the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ. I am in the process of putting together a website and will hopefully be able to reach many firemen.
So as I close, I still get the thrill and excitement of riding on the big, bright, shiny red fire trucks with the lights flashing, the sirens screaming, and the air horns blasting. But I am also very well aware of the fact that it may be my last ride on the fire truck. For circumstances can change so fast at a fire scene that I may lose my life. So the next time a fire truck passes you on their way to a call, don't get angry if you are delayed a few moments. Say a prayer that God will protect and lead them, and if one loses his life, pray that they are clothed in the Lord Jesus Christ. I feel we fireman live our faith every time we enter a burning building, for we are willing to lay our lives down for total strangers within our communities.

The Brighton Volunteer Fire Company #5, is located just north of the City of Buffalo, in Western New York. We respond to fire, haz-mat, and extrication calls within a 7.5 square mile area in order to provide protection to a population of about 40,000 residents. Our district includes a suburban area as well as a heavy industrialized area along the Niagara River. Running thru our District is a six lane interstate highway. We have 67 active firefighters who respond to an average of 400 calls per year.