F is for Fire Department

This week for  Blogging Through the Alphabet  is the letter F. Marcy from the blog Ben and Me is hosting this fun challenge to blog through the alphabet one letter per week. Be sure and visit her blog and read what other bloggers have come up with for their letter F.

I have chosen Fire Department as my F offering this week. Alamo West Volunteer Fire Department to be exact. The Fire Department is a huge part of our life. Both my husband, Matt, and son, Matthew, are fire fighters with Alamo West.

Matt has spent many years as a Volunteer Fire Fighter. When he was 18 and first in the Air Force, he was stationed here in Alamogordo and joined the Alamo West VFD. He spent about 5 years in the department until we were stationed overseas. After 3 years we were stationed back here in Alamogordo. Matt immediately joined Alamo West VFD again. He was even the Assistant Fire Chief for a few years until  we were stationed in another state. We spent 8 years away from NM and then Matt retired. We have moved, once again, back to Alamogordo. Matt is in the department again. A little older, a little grayer, but still with the same passion for helping out the community. 

Matt has passed his love of the Fire Department to our son, Matthew. Matthew was so very excited when we moved back here because he was 18. That meant he could be a member of  Alamo West VFD. Matthew is just as dedicated as his dad is to the department. Every Saturday he is not at work, he is at the station doing truck checks. He attends training whenever he can and is working on his Fire Fighter 1 certification.  Matthew has even earned a nickname through the department. It is a little morbid, but his nickname is Grave Digger. He earned it early (3am) one morning when he attended a call for a car accident. The girl driving the car rolled it, but was not seriously injured. Her dog, on the other hand, did not make it. Somehow the girl’s dad had come to the scene and asked that the dog be buried, so they did not have to pass by and see it lying on the side of the road. Matthew, grabbed a shovel, dug a grave and buried the dog. Listening to Mathew tell me about it the next morning, I told him what he did is called compassion. Doing something that maybe does not need to be done, but can make a huge difference to a person in the midst of a tragedy.

If you have not guessed it by now, the Fire Department is a very BIG part of our lives. It overshadows just about everything. I admit, I can get a little annoyed at the time it takes. But then, I realize just what an awesome responsibility my guys have taken on. Their dedication is amazing. They take their role as Fire Fighters very seriously, training to the best of their abilities.  My husband used to have a t-shirt with a picture of a house burning that simply said, “What if Volunteer Firefighters did not Volunteer?” .