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International Firefighters Day - May 4th, 2023
Jaeteuk May 4th, 2023
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Firefighters like many other type of careers that can turn into a life-or-death situation, is one that should be honoured and recognized by everyone. Whether they are fighting against a house fire, a wild forest fire, fires caused by chemical explosions, etc, when there are lives involved and in danger, it is these firefighters to put their lives at risk to save them. Their mindsets when saving lives is that others' lives are more important than their own lives.

A few months ago, I saw a news article that is from China, it showed a picture where a firefighter was all covered in ash, had sacrificed himself, and in his arms was a little girl around 5 years old, still alive.

May 4th had been set as the day to honour those who have sacrificed him/herself while on duty. As an International day of remembrance of these heroes, the first Sunday of May, fire stations will have a "Sound Off" (a minute's silence in remembrance of the fallen), and using a blue and red piece of ribbon pinned together is a symbol recognized internationally as the colours that represent elements that the firefighters work with (water and fire).

Here is the source I found the information from: https://happydays365.org/firefighters-day/international-firefighters-day-may-4/

On another note, ever since I was little, I've always had a different view on these emergency service careers. Firefighters, Police, Paramedics.. they all somehow amaze me and always catches my eye when these emergency vehicles are on the road with their sirens on. Of course, when their sirens are on, it should catch everyone's eye and make way for them, but when I see them or hear sirens, I'm more alert and listen to figure out which direction they have gone (when I'm indoors and hear sirens nearby), and wonder about the situation they will be dealing with OR when I'm driving and on the road myself, I'll be looking at my rear view mirrors or glancing ahead to see where they've rushed off to until they are no longer in sight. I've also had a liking of watching television dramas that involves these emergency services since I was young and up until the present.

How do you feel about those working in emergency services? As International Firefighters Day, are you able to recall a time where you might have seen or heard about sacrifices? How did it make you feel?

3
Approachable May 4th, 2023
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@Jaeteuk

Love this post.

I do work in the emergency services here in the UK. I had no idea about international firefighters day though!

I think all of the emergency services are brave, I've been in my role for just over two years now and I've seen a lot of chaos. The fire service are great, and whenever we get to work alongside them it is always a pleasure.

I can recall this once incident I attended whereby every single service had to attend, police/paramedics/fire etc. It was a CBRN (chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear) threat coming from a block of flats. We were unsure what it was at first, maybe some sort of gas leak, we weren't sure. It was located in a block of flats, at the very top floor, the fire alarms had been pulled so no one could use the stairs, there was about 10 of us sprinting up about 20 flights of stairs, all with gas masks and door breaching tools, with more of us waiting at the bottom, when we finally got to the top, there didn't seem to be any sort of gas leak, or fire or any sort of CBRN threat. We tried knocking on the door that neighbors were concerned about, we had no answer so we eventually ended up smashing the door in with one of our battering rams, there was no one around, we looked everywhere and when we finally looked into the bathroom/toilet area there was this kid with numerous bottles of cleaning products around the toilet (he had been mixing them in the toilet) obviously some nasty chemical reaction happened and the smell alerted all of the neighbors! It was similar to a fire sort of smell, any CBRN officer or firefighter would be able to tell you that it was close to a chemical fire sort of smell. Luckily he was unharmed but the reason he didn't hear the fire alarm was because he was deaf! He caused all that mayhem and had no idea lol.

Anyways, that's my most interesting story about the firefighters. Lots of respect for 'em!

Jaeteuk OP May 4th, 2023
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@Approachable

Thank you for your service and thank you for your wonderful true story of a past experience! It sure sounded a bit chaotic, and had all the neighbours concerned with the smell of chemicals. I hope the boy didn't inhale a lot of those cleaning chemicals. Where were the parents?

One thing I remember about firefighters was when I was in Scouting. We visited a fire hall and they had to respond to a call during mid-visit. I was amazed by their quick reactions and response. We were kind left behind, but in awe.

Approachable May 4th, 2023
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@Jaeteuk

Yeah they are pretty fast!

Depends where you are I guess. I now work in the city where our station is right in the middle of pretty much everywhere. We can get anywhere on blues in pretty much 2 minutes. Anyways, you should message me so we don't have to communicate via forum comments lmao.

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