The Weakest Shout
There is a well-known prayer in the fire service known as the Fireman’s Prayer:
When I am called to duty, God
Whenever flames may rage,
Give me strength to save some life
Whatever be its age.Help me to embrace a little child
Before it is too late,
Or save an older person
From the horror of that fate.Enable me to be alert
And hear the weakest shout,
And quickly and efficiently,
To put the fire out.I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me,
To guard my every neighbor
And protect his property.And if, according to my fate,
I am to lose my life,
Please bless with your protecting hand
My children and my wife
From an article at AspiringFirefighters.com:
While most accounts of the Firemen’s Prayer conclude with Author Unknown, the world renowned poem was written by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn. As a young firefighter in 1958 Linn and his crew responded to a fire in which three children were trapped behind security bars and died in the fire.
The only way he could find to ease the pain of such a tragedy was to sit down and put his thoughts on paper. The phrase, “enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout”, sends a chill up a firefighter’s spine as you imagine what he experienced on that fateful night.
We recently had a call for a three-year-old child choking on an unknown object who was getting some air exchange, but was getting worse. Luckily the police officer was able to dislodge the object and we were quickly canceled.
A few days later, some of us were joking about how we tend to respond when a call comes across involving a child.
Whenever we get a page, we always quit what we’re doing and hurry to the station.
If we get a page and something is on fire, we always jump, drop what we’re doing, and run to the station.
If we get a page and a child is in trouble, we jump out of our skin and fly to the station.
The wife of our Captain 11 recently found out that her 13-year-old niece, who has been fighting cancer for two years, is to a point where the doctors at Children’s Hospital cannot do anything more for her with conventional treatment. She is now undergoing alternative treatments at a center in California (that is not eligible for insurance coverage).
On very short notice we are trying to organize and promote a benefit for her. As part of this effort I spent a late night quickly setting up a website for her at www.LaurrenSmithFoundation.org.
We are sounding the alarms and calling for mutual aid. Spread the word far and wide.
We grown-ups have made a hell of a world for ourselves and are all lucky to have had as much time as we have, despite how we’ve spent it. When a child is in trouble, it is incumbent upon us to bring all the forces we can muster to their aid.