If you don't know a county firefighter, then go find one, introduce yourself, and do the same thing.
A couple of us at Your TIMES watched Sallisaw firefighters put themselves in harm's way recently to save a beautiful home apparently struck by lightning.
At the risk of embarrassing them all, and I know for sure I will, this team of firefighters worked together as if they had been choreographed into a beautiful if deadly ballet. They seemed to dance with the fire as the fire itself seemed to force itself upon them.
The firefighters would probably prefer I described their actions as though they were in a boxing match. It was a match in which the light-footed firefighters wove in and out among the flames darting around and about them. Almost as though it had a mind of its own, the fire, wind propelled, threw right crosses and left uppercuts, which seemed to be aimed at each man.
As the fire moved as one being, so did the team of Sallisaw firefighters. They ran as one to the fire. With sometimes only gestures, they then directed hoses be laid and connected to their one weapon - water.
Working in pairs or three to a crew, they flung the water upon the flames, they pitched ladders upon the sides of the groaning structure in order to save it, they donned oxygen masks and tanks to enter the home and fight the enemy face to face. And if one was overcome his mates took him from the field of battle to make way for another crew to take his place.
Others continued the battle from the outside, working with hoses, and tanks and pikes to beat back the fiery dragon, almost like knights of old. They rose above the beast to rain water from above, and almost seemed at times to be in hand-to-hand combat.
As the battle raged they did not forsake the victims, reporting regularly to them and to those of us who have no such skills, and who could only stand and watch in wonder.
If the fire was the animal, then Sallisaw firefighters were the gladiators, the only ones who could do battle and dispatch the beast.
The fire lost the fight, we're happy to report. But we wish you all could have seen your firefighters, and at the same time, we hope you never have to watch this oh so possibly dangerous dance.
One member of this team advanced against the fire on the inside of the home. There, in the smoke, he saw a movement. The firefighters had not been told there was a living being inside the battle zone. It was just by luck or perhaps grace that this firefighter saw the movement. He took a moment to investigate, and found the small pet, which belonged to the home's owner. He picked up the tiny bundle of fur and took it away from the enemy, from the flames, and delivered it safely into its owner's arms.
That tiny pet was the only thing the owner had prayed for, she was heard to say. God must whisper in every firefighter's ear.
We would like to do the same.
You guys are good. Thank you.
