MBS Lynne,

"I feel quite frustrated at not being able to do more than donate an incredibly small amount of money."

One of the things I came to realize when I first became a firefighter is that soaking the axe head in a pail of water with some antifreeze in it may help save a life or a structure, or that checking the air pressure of the truck tires could be the difference between someone living or not. What the heck does that mean? It means that there are NO unimportant tasks in a system that is dedicated to helping others.

I had been 'fighting' fires for over a year before I ever got to use the hose. And it was two years before I entered a burning structure wearing breathing apparatus [BA]. The first big structure fire (a large house with an attached garage and attached workshop) I was at found me in charge of a hydrant--a job given to rookies because 1) it has to be done and 2) there is less chance of screwing up badly and getting someone else injured or killed. Here is the genesis of a structure-fire call to a volunteer department (although details may vary according to circumstance).

Someone notices smoke or flame coming from a house

That someone calls 911 (999 in England)

The 911 dispatch takes the info and alerts the appropriate fire department by sending a radiowave page that triggers the beeping device in firefighters' pagers

The firefighters go to the hall where the first FF in alerts command that the hall is manned

Command has gone directly to the scene and the FF dress in bunker gear while command sizes up the scene

The dressed FFs go to the equipment floor where they are assigned to various trucks. Our hall has six trucks. Because we handle town calls and county calls, the fire location and fire 'size' will dictate which trucks respond

The FF who was first in will assign FFs to the trucks that will roll. On this hypothetical fire we require a pumper, an aerial ladder truck and a rescue truck. The pumper will be first out. The driver has to be a pump operator, and the four FFs who will travel in that truck have to be BA certified. It rolls and receives direction en route (from the command vehicle at the scene) as to where to stage and what they're facing

Regardless of the fire size, most trucks only carry between 500 and a 1000 gallons of water, and that can be sprayed away in less than about four minutes. If the fire requires a massive amount of water 'right now', someone will have to hook to a hydrant to ensure a continuous supply to the truck. If that isn't done, after four minutes ya got a team of guys who have no water. If they're inside, they have no water protection or way to control the burn

The second truck in is the aerial ladder truck. It will hook to a hydrant and hook to the first pumper to provide water for the first pumper and water for itself Most areial ladders trucks carry very little water with them

The third truck in will carry FFs who will be assigned duties when they arrive on scene

Within twelve minutes (tops) it has gone from someone seeing smoke to having 12-16 FFs on scene and starting to deal with the fire. There isn't a single step there that can be cut out. There is no unimportant job. The axe head in the water with the antifreeze? The guy who did that expanded the wood in the axe head so that when it was used to gain access to the house, the head--which had become loose because the wood had shrunk was expanded by the soaking, and the guys could get into the structure. The guy who established water supply at the hydrant? He made sure his buddies inside had protection from the flame and water to begin the extinguishment. The scene commander? He determined whether or not the house was occupied and if the shop attached to the house contained things that go boom. The guy who ensured all the radios were working and had fully charged batteries has also ensured that the guys inside have a secure link/contact with their fellows on the outside. It's important to be able to tell them that the structue is in danger of collapse and they should get out, now.

This scenario isn't all that hypothetical. And something else that isn't hypothetical is this: Which event in the chain of things would you cancel (have not happen)? The call to 911? The radio page? The hydrant hook up? The axe head maintenance?

The fire axe cost $30. The pail to soak it in cost $3. The antifreeze cost $2. The truck cost $85,000. The training for each FF cost $10,000. The radio batteries cost $40. The call to 911 cost $.15 and the gas to get the pumper to the fire cost $1. While you consider which to leave out because it's 'an incredibly small amount of money', I will suggest that there is no such thing. That you have done what you can do is the measure of your contribution and your 'goodness'. That you have done what you can do is the measure of your humanity. That you have done what you can do.

BM