November 13 2008

Sadie and I accompanied Erin's Kindergarten class to the Fire station today.  It was very cool.  I got to be the guy who demonstrated all of the gear they wear and we got to go on the trucks.  

Let me tell you the one high point of the week that I experienced today, a true Sadie moment:

The fire guys were explaining to all of the kids about how if they woke up at night and found smoke coming in from under their bedroom doors and the door was hot, that they should not open it and should not hide under the bed or anything.  They had a very cool way of explaining to the kids that they had to remain conspicuous to the rescue teams - what they did was had a smoke machine blowing into the room and then had a fire fighter in full gear crawl into the room full of smoke.  I'm talking air mask, flashlights, helmet, coat and pants, boots, gloves, the works.  You couldn't see the guy at all, just his kit.  And you could only hear the scary Darth Vader sounds of his breathing apparatus.  When he called out, it sounded very scary.  The fire guys were trying to explain to the five year olds that if this scary creature should come crawling into your bedroom at night through the smoke, that they shouldn't be afraid of it, but should call out to it.  It was very scary, though, this heavy breathing alien with a distant and deep voice.  You could see that the kids were uncomfortable with the situation, as if they were in a real smoky room with a monster crawling up to them. I thought it looked really cool.  Anyway, in true Sadie fashion, she cut through the crowd of five year olds and got to the front where the fire man was, went up to him, and hugged him in so gentle a way that all the adults could do was look on in disbelief, followed by the entire room breaking out in laughter.  She showed those kindergarten kids what courage was!  

I guess you had to be there.  Here are a couple of photos:

I couldn't actually get the hug shot in time, but that's her fixing his lapelle after she hugged him, and then him scratching his head (through his helmet?) after the hug and lapelle straightening.  She sort of left them all scratching their heads.  Anyway, it was a fun trip.  

You saw the photo of the chief's pickup grille up top?  Pretty cool, but wait 'til you see the Peace River Ambulances:

I  fell in love with them the first time I saw one of these bad boys in our first week here.  These guys know how to deck out their emergency vehicles!  I'll be the evac helicopter's got skulls and guitars on it....

p.s.:  Found out today that 80% of the guys at the station are volunteers, who are there part-time and have other jobs or are stay at home dads.  They only get paid when they're on a call.  They told me I should consider it....